Platte County evened the season record in another busy week, winning the last two games of the Metro Leadoff Classic and then splitting four in the weekend’s Rogers Baseball Festival in Arkansas. The Pirates played six times — all away from home — and showed positive growth.
Coming off losses to Liberty North and Rockhurst, Platte County’s offense broke out in an 11-6 win over Blue Springs on Monday and then staged a late comeback for a rare walkoff win on the road at Lee’s Summit North on Tuesday. Beckett Hall, a sophomore second baseman, hit the first of two home runs on the week in the Pirates’ first win of the season, while sophomore third baseman Nolan Sipes finished the 7-6 comeback over Lee’s Summit North with a sacrifice fly to score senior shortstop Brennan McLaughlin.
Hall went 2-for-5 with five RBIs for Platte County against Blue Springs, which built an early 3-0 lead. The Pirates ended up cycling through five pitchers with junior all-stater Evan Magnuson allowing three runs (two earned) in just one inning, while senior Trent Belcher struck out four but walked two and allowed another run in the next two frames.
Platte County went in front at 4-3 with four runs in the top of the third, starting with consecutive singles for sophomore left fielder Ben Burnich, Hall and McLaughlin. The Pirates drew level on sophomore catcher Boston Wasserman’s two-run single with out, and Sipes’ double to right put two more in scoring position.
Brandon Reynolds, a junior courtesy running for Wasserman, scored the initial go-ahead run on a passed ball.
Blue Springs would tie the score at 4-4 and 6-6 but never led again. Hall’s RBI groundout and senior designated hitter Ian Gold, who went 3-for-5, added an RBI single in a two-run fourth that put Platte County up 6-4. The Pirates then went up for good in the sixth.
Platte County junior centerfielder Devin Lumm led off with a double, and Burnich walked. Hall followed with a three-run home run to center and McLaughlin followed with a solo shot. Burnich reached base four times with a pair of walks and two singles, while scoring three times, and McLaughlin finished 3-for-4 with a walk.
The win went to Platte County junior Bode Nolte with 2/3 scoreless in relief of Reynolds, who threw 1 1/3 innings in relief. Zach Brown, a senior, retired the final six batters with three strikeouts.
Nolte worked around a two runners in the fifth and combined with Brown to retire eight Blue Springs batters in a row to finish the win.
The next day Platte County played as the home team despite being in Lee’s Summit. The Pirates led 1-0 early on an RBI single from senior first baseman Andrew Edsall, a returning all-state performer, to score junior Gaven Vest, a pinch-runner after starting in center field and splitting time with Lumm against Blue Springs.
Lee’s Summit North would eventually lead 5-1 and 6-3 while working against five different pitchers. Platte County sophomore Greyson Reik opened by working around four baserunners with a pair of strikeouts in two scoreless innings. The Pirates then cycled through juniors James Dragoo (two runs allowed in 2/3 of an inning) and Tate Archer (three walks in 1/3 of an inning), Sipes (two scoreless innings) and junior Brock Dye, who earned the win despite allowing four runs in two innings.
Platte County cut into the initial deficit with singles from McLaughlin and Gold that led to a pair of runs on passed balls. The decisive bottom of the seventh started with a leadoff single for Lumm and then a one-out walk for Burnich. Hall’s two-run triple to right field scored two and trimmed the deficit to 6-5. McLaughlin and Gold walked, and Edsall plated the tying run when Lee’s Summit North committed an error on a ground ball.
Sipes’ fly ball to center field proved deep enough to score McLaughlin tagging up.
Rogers Baseball Festival
Platte County again swept the second half of four games played over a span of three days in Rogers, Arkansas. Both losses came to out-of-state competition.
Har-Ber (Arkansas) never trailed in Thursday’s game, scoring twice in the bottom of the first and four times in the third on the way to a 10-3 victory.
Platte County briefly drew level at 2-2 after collecting four of 10 overall hits in a row with two outs in the third. The rally started with a single for sophomore rightfielder Hank Marriott, who went to second on a balk. Hall, serving as designated hitter, followed with an RBI single and then scored after back-to-back hits for senior Owen Bane and McLaughlin, who doubled to center field.
Out of 10 hits, nine were singles for Platte County. Hall, McLaughlin and junior leftfielder Matt Cisco collected two apiece. The Pirates’ only hit in a 7-0 loss later that day to Fayetteville (Arkansas) came on a single from Hall as the very first batter. Wasserman, Cisco and junior right fielder Elijah Hockaday walked once each.
Platte County used six pitchers against Har-Ber, while Bane (two innings) started and Magnuson (3 2/3 innings) went to the time limit against Fayetteville. They struck out three each and combined to allow four unearned runs due to five errors.
After going 0-2 on Thursday, McLaughlin Belcher and Brown combined to strike out eight and walk one in a three-hit shutout Friday against Nixa.
Platte County scored four in the bottom of the first on the way to a 5-0 victory, scattering 14 hits. Hall led of the bottom of the first with a solo home run, his second of the week, and the Pirates tacked on three more with an RBI single for junior rightfielder Hank Fowler and a two-run double for Sipes.
Sipes finished 2-for-3 and added an RBI single in the fifth. Golf finished with three singles.
Platte County returned to the field Saturday and scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to earn a 6-3 victory over Ozark, which led 1-0 early. The Pirates used Dye (three), Dragoo (two) and Bane (two) to cover seven innings with the trio striking out eight and allowing one run each.
Ozark managed only two hits, both against Dye, but drew four walks.
Platte County drew level 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth on Lumm’s two-out RBI single to score Reynolds, pinch-running for Gold after he reached on a one-out single. The Pirates went up 3-1 in the fifth after Hall and Cisco led off with back-to-back walks. Hall came home on McLaughlin’s sacrifice fly before Gold, who went 2-for-4, came up with an RBI single.
Ozark scored twice without a hit in the sixth, but the tie score didn’t hold.
Edsall led off the bottom of the Frame with a double to left field, and he scored the eventual winning run on Fowler’s one-out single. After a pickoff, Hall restarted the inning with a single, and Cisco put two runners on with his lone hit. Both came home on McLaughlin’s two-run double.
