Determining a losing pitcher.

Question
QUESTION: In Highschool baseball,the starting pitcher shall be charged with the loss when he replaced and his team is behind or falls behind because of runs ASSESSED to him. What assessed runs are they talking about? Earned runs? Un-earned runs? or both? in making the determination if he should be the loosing pitcher. Without the errors my team had my starting pitcher should have only had 1 earned run and the game would have been tied when I took him out. Also, I always thought that, lets say there were 3 errors on the 1st three batters that any runs scored after that would be un-earned. In what cases, if any, would I county an earned run after an un-earned run scores?
ANSWER: Carl,

Even if the pitcher only gives up unearned runs, those runs do count against him when determining wins and losses.  So, if your team lost 3 to 1, and all three runs were unearned, the pitcher would still get the loss.

You never count an earned run after an unearned run has scored unless the run would have counted anyway.  Say there are no outs, and an error is committed to allow a runner on.  The next batter homers.  That would be one earned run and one unearned run.  And any runs that score before two outs (providing there are no more errors) would be earned.  Runs scored after two outs would be unearned.

If three errors are committed, then all runs are unearned until there is a pitching change.  If the relief pitcher allows additional baserunners and they score, then the additional runs are considered earned.

Hope this helps!

Brian

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: How do you determine earned and un-earned runs when it comes to wild pitches and past balls?

Answer
Carl,

A passed ball is considered like an error (so if a run scores on a passed ball it is unearned) while a wild pitch is treated as earned.  Why this distinction I'm not sure - a pitcher's error still leaves the run as unearned.

Hope this hleps!

Brian