Platte County tries to take positives from 3-2 loss to Class 6 No. 1 Blue Springs South

Don’t mistake acknowledgement with acceptance.

After a 3-2 loss to Blue Springs South in the regular season home finale, Platte County coach John Sipes decided to focus on the positives. The Pirates but an early two-run lead on another big hit for freshman shortstop and received encouraging pitching performances from junior Brayden Carter (one innings, two strikeouts) and seniors Ethan Veach (three innings, five strikeouts) and Tyler Erickson (three shutout innings), pushing last year’s Class 6 runnerup and current Missouri Baseball Coaches Association No. 1-ranked team in the state’s largest class.

Platte County concluded a stretch of 16 games in 18 days with plenty of concerns to address ahead of the postseason, but a clean, well-played one-run loss to Blue Springs South could actually be a harbinger of improved play.

“Any time you can take the No. 1 team in Class 6, probably in the state of Missouri at all levels, to the last out, it’s a win in my book,” Sipes said.

Platte County (15-17) plays three road games to this week to conclude the regular season and will enter having gone 7-9 over the recent busy stretch. That included Suburban Conference White Division losses to Grain Valley and Belton sandwiched around a tight win over Truman on senior night to start this week.

After the loss to Blue Springs South, Platte County has dropped six of the last seven overall to again drop two games below .500. The Pirates had just four hits but also drew five walks to create plenty of opportunities.

Blue Springs South overcame the 2-0 deficit with a single run in the third and two more in the fourth against Veach, who took a hard-luck loss in a second straight strong performance on the mound. Platte County put the potential tying run on base in the fourth, fifth and sixth before going down in order in the seventh. The Pirates grounded into a pair of double plays to kill potential rallies in the first two frames.

“We’ll start a game off hot and start to cool down,” Sipes said.

Platte County jumped to the early lead in the bottom of the second with help from a one-out walk for junior center fielder Devin Wassmann and then a two-out walk for senior outfielder Dylan Zimmermann. McLaughlin, recently installed as the starting shortstop, hit the very next pitch from Blue Springs South senior starter Liam Bryan for a double off the wall in deep center field.

Wassmann scored easily, and Zimmerman followed closely behind without a throw to make it 2-0.

“(McLaughlin’s) been so clutch for us,” Sipes said. “Competition breeds success, and any time you have a younger kid coming up pushing for a spot, everybody around him wants to play at that level. As far as Brennan goes, he’s been awesome. He’s the fire we need.”

Bryan scattered four hits, five walks, a hit by pitch and four wild pitches over six effective innings for Blue Springs South (24-4).

Platte County’s final hit came in the bottom of the third after Blue Springs South hauled the deficit in the top half of the frame. Pirates senior catcher Cameron Dean led off with a walk, and senior first baseman Dylan Robertson followed with a single to put a pair of runners on.

Robertson’s hit caromed off the corner of third base and into the outfield, allowing senior courtesy runner Andrew Habel to reach third on the play. Hedrick followed with a ground ball to Blue Springs South junior third baseman Andrew Hollister, who threw home to easily cut down Habel trying to score with the play calling him for to go on contact.

Two straight poppets followed, and Robertson and Hedrick were stranded in scoring position after both moved up a base on a wild pitch.

“You can second-guess yourself all day long,” Sipes said. “At that point, maybe we take a throwing; maybe we get a bad call. You have the lower half of the lineup coming up, so you try to press your luck when you can, and we just weren’t lucky there.”

Platte County continued to use very specific plans for a taxed pitching staff. Coaches purposely limited Carter, the left-handed ace and biggest returning piece from the unit that pitched the Pirates to last year’s Class 5 title, to just 30 pitches. He worked around a single and a walk in a long first inning with a pair of strikeouts and did not come back out for the second after needing 29 pitches to record three outs.

Veach then worked around a pair of walks in the second to strand two more, giving way to McLaughlin’s breakthrough two-run double.

Blue Springs South turned a hit by pitch and a double to score a quick run in the third, and two singles and a triple to take the lead in the fourth. In both innings, Veach used strikeouts to strand three total runners and keep Platte County close. Erickson allowed a leadoff double in his first inning of relief, retired the side in order in the sixth before an adventurous seventh.

Erickson allowed a single and a walk to start then issued an intentional walk with one out to load the bases. He induced back-to-back flyouts, the first going to Zimmerman in right field. He charged in and forced the runner at third to hold, and Wassmann went deep to track down the next and keep Platte County within a run.

“Tyler is notorious for loading the bases, and finding some way to get out of it,” Sipes said. “He just likes to give me a heart attack, but he finds a way to get it done.”

Platte County could not produce a runner in the bottom of the seventh in what became the latest loss where the Pirates held a lead but couldn’t hold. The defeats to Grain Valley and Belton have created a scenario where Platte County is likely to share the White Division title. The Pirates split the conference title with Grain Valley. Pending the result of the Eagles’ game this week against Raytown.

This week’s road games are at Raymore-Peculiar (Monday), North Kansas City (Wednesday) and Park Hill (Friday). Sipes plans to start Carter against Park Hill in his final appearance before the start of Class 5 District 8 play, but having used 13 pitchers this season, Sipes also has decisions to make about his rotation and bullpen.

Strong candidates will likely be seniors Hunter Canole, Aidan Norris, Erickson and Zimmerman.

“We’re really going to use these next three games to evaluate, and we’re going to give them opportunities,” Sipes said. “Going into districts, we want at least four quality arms, and I think we’re narrowing it down.”

Belton 8, Platte County 7

A missed opportunity to sweep the White Division battle of Pirates on Wednesday in Belton cost Platte County a chance at the outright conference title.

Platte County built a 5-0 lead after the top of the second but allowed four in the bottom of the sixth to eventually end up in extra innings. Both teams finished with nine hits, but Platte County did not do enough with 11 walks and ended up using six pitchers total.

Tied 7-7, Platte County loaded the bases in the seventh, eighth and tenth innings but did not score.

Platte County sophomore second baseman Dayton Doll, Robertson and McLaughlin all collected two hits apiece, while Dean and Wassmann each drew three walks. Wassmann capped a four-run first inning with a two-run single, and Platte County senior right fielder Dayne Wimberly singled home McLaughlin two pitches after he tripled to right field to start the second.

Belton managed to strand the bases loaded in that inning, and Platte County’s single runs in the fourth (pair of errors) and sixth (wild pitch after the bases were loaded on two walks and a hit by pitch) without a hit.

Carter started and ended up charged with two runs on two hits and a walk in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three. Platte County also used freshman Rocco Marriott (one run, three walks and three strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings), Norris (three runs in 2 2/3 innings) and Doll (1/3 inning), who allowed a two-run double, balked the tying runner to third and ended up charged with the tying run after he came home on a wild pitch.

McLaughlin made his second pitching appearance and went three scoreless innings, allowing only three hits but striking out four to keep extending the game. Belton’s winning run came against junior left-hander Isaiah Smith, who walked two to start the seventh and gave up the walkoff single with two outs.

Platte County 5, Truman 4

The Pirates plated the winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning after giving away a 4-0 lead Tuesday at Platte County High School.

Before the game, Platte County honored 13 seniors: Wimberly, Zimmerman, Dean, Robertson, Hedrick, Erickson, Norris, Veach, Canole, Habel, first baseman/DH James Schwieder, reserve infielder Nick Baker and reserve catcher Zach Gaspers. The Pirates then spaced out usage of five of them on the mound — Zimmerman (1 2/3 scoreless as the starter), Veach (1 1/3 innings, two strikeouts), Canole (two walks, four hits and two strikeouts), Erickson (2 1/3 scoreless) innings and Norris (one strikeout to record his only out and the save).

Platte County started quick and looked in control after a three-run first. Wimberly led off with a double, stole third and scored on Doll’s groundout. Dean then restarted the inning with a single to left field, and Robertson followed with a walk. Both runners advanced on a fielder’s choice, and an error allowed Robertson to score to make it 3-0.

Robertson then hit his second home run of the season to to lead off the third to make it a four-run lead.

Platte County finished with just five hits total, and Truman plated four in the top of the fourth against Veach and Canole to tie the score at 4-4. All four runs came with two outs on three straight singles for the Patriots.

The go-ahead and winning run in the fifth came without a hit. Schwieder and Hedrick walked, and Erickson’s squeeze bunt plated Schwieder.

Grain Valley 6, Platte County 4

A run-scoring single and a two-run home run from Hedrick — both with two outs in the top of the seventh — closed the gap, but the Eagles held on for a key season split Monday in Grain Valley.

All three of Platte County’s hits came in the seventh inning after Grain Valley scored three in the bottom of the sixth to critically extend the lead to 6-1. Two of the runs were unearned against Canole, who struck out two but allowed two hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Carter started and gave up single runs in the first and second, but Platte County pulled within 2-1 in the third after McLaughlin, Wimberly and Doll all walked with one out. Dean’s sacrifice fly brought McLaughlin home.

Platte County left the bases loaded in the fourth, and Grain Valley went ahead 3-1 after scoring one against McLaughlin, who struck out two in 2 1/3 innings, on back-to-back doubles in the fifth with one out. The Pirates’ rally in the seventh started with Doll’s one-out double. Robertson singled on a two-strike count to make it 6-2, and Hedrick hit a 3-1 pitch over the left field wall for the first home run of his career. Schwieder struck out to end the game.