Inexperienced lineup struggles in tough tests to start Metro Leadoff Classic

The early experiences will undoubtedly require patience and optimism in the process.

Platte County’s stacked early schedule proved as challenging as expected, taking back-to-back losses in the Metro Leadoff Classic at Liberty North on Thursday and vs. Rockhurst on Friday at Platte County High School. The Class 6 opponents took advantage of errors and the Pirates’ inexperienced lineup that struggled to combine patience with timely hitting.

A unique combination of graduation losses left Platte County (0-2) with a limited number of returners from last year’s Class 5 state title-winning team but still with three all-state performers on the roster.

In the season-opener, Platte County produced just two hits and couldn’t do enough with nine walks in what ended up a 7-3 loss.

Liberty North took advantage of five errors and scored all of the runs during the fourth and fifth innings. The Pirates effectively used four different pitchers who were tagged with seven unearned runs in a frustrating result.

Platte County sent senior ace Brennan McLaughlin to the mound and built a 2-0 lead in the top of the second after senior designated hitter Ian Gold and sophomore catcher Boston Wasserman led off with back-to-back walks. After a sacrifice bunt from sophomore third baseman Nolan Sipes, both runs came home when Liberty North committed an error on junior centerfielder Devin Lumm’s ground ball to shortstop.

With runners in all but one inning, Platte County trailed 7-2 before scoring again in the sixth. Liberty North hit Pirates senior first baseman Andrew Edsall, an all-state utility player last season, with a pitch and then walked Gold. Wasserman followed with an RBI single to center field.

Platte County then made an out at home and eventually stranded the bases loaded with the tying run at the plate after Sipes and junior left fielder Matt Cisco walked.

McLaughlin, a two-time all-state infielder and returning Class 5 player of the year, took the loss despite retiring nine of the first 10 batters he faced. All four runs he allowed were a result of two Platte County errors in the fourth, and he exited with 3 2/3 innings having walked two and struck out one. The Pirates then navigated the final 2 1/3 innings with seniors Trent Belcher (recorded one out) and Zach Brown (three unearned runs in one inning, one strikeout and one walk) and junior Christian Sipes, who worked around an error and a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth.

Platte County sophomore right fielder Hank Marriott threw out a runner trying to score to end the frame. He then drew a walk to start the seventh but never advanced. The Pirates’ only hits were Wasserman’s sixth-inning RBI single and Cisco’s single after the run-scoring error in the second. They loaded the bases with one out, but two strikeouts ended the threat and kept the initial lead at 2-0.

The next night against Rockhurst, Platte County junior starter Brock Dye recorded a 1-2-3 first inning and then worked out of trouble in the second and third to keep the game scoreless early. The Hawklets eventually put up six runs in the top of the fourth, mostly against all-state junior right-hander Evan Magnuson, and pulled away with three more in the sixth for a 9-1 victory.

Platte County again finished with just two singles — an early one for McLaughlin and another one for junior Tate Archer in a pinch-hitting opportunity with the Pirates down eight runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Rockhurst threatened in the second after Jack Karl led off with a single and reached third on a two-base error when Dye threw wide on a pickoff attempt. He came back with two strikeouts and a groundout to escape the situation unscathed.

Platte County turned a double play behind Dye in the third after a hit by pitch before he stranded another runner after a two-out double to deep left field.

Rockhurst put up six runs — five earned — against Magnuson, who recorded the win in last year’s Class 5 state championship game win over Vianney, in the fourth. He walked two and gave up three hits in just 1/3 innings, exiting with two wild pitches, as well. The Pirates then went to senior Owen Bane, who struck out three in 2 1/3 innings of work and allowed three runs in the sixth.

Platte County had pulled within 6-1 in the fifth after Rockhurst hit Gold with a pitch to start the frame. The Pirates used junior Brandon Reynolds as a pinch-runner, and he reached third with a pair of stolen bases and then came home with two outs.

Sipes hit a ground ball to third base, and the infield umpire initially called him out to seemingly keep Platte County scoreless. Instead, the Pirates appealed to the home plate umpire, and after a conference, they ruled the first baseman came off the bag. That resulted in a Rockhurst error and the lone run the Hawklets allowed.

Platte County went down in order in the bottom of the sixth down 9-1 and then left the bases loaded in the seventh. The Pirates drew both of their walks — one each for Edsall and sophomore Greyson Reik while also pinch-hitting — in the final half inning.

The next two opponents for Platte County in the Leadoff Classic, like Rockhurst, posted a losing record in 2025. The Pirates travel to Blue Springs on Monday and then Lee’s Summit North on Tuesday before a weekend trip to the Rogers Baseball Festival in Rogers, Arkansas, for four more tournament games.