Platte County’s rollercoaster ride hits another high with run of 4 straight wins

Welcome to the Platte County’s rollercoaster defense of last year’s Class 5 state championship. Please try to enjoy the ride.

An ultra-talented, deep roster continues to search for the lengthy run of consistent play, but for now, a four-game winning streak provides more optimism. The Pirates capped a stretch of six games in six days with a morning-afternoon doubleheader sweep of Lee’s Summit (2-1) and Oak Park (5-2) on a frigid Saturday at Platte County High School.

Platte County improved back to 12-10 overall, stringing together the victories after a frustrating stretch of four consecutive losses. The current streak includes a tidy 2-0 shutout of Belton behind junior pitcher Brayden Carter, a sloppy high-scoring road affair at Central (St. Joseph), a clutch manufactured late run in a pitcher’s dual and a four-run sixth-inning rally to overcome a deficit.

“We’re lucky right now to where if one side of the game isn’t on point, the other side is,” Platte County coach John Sipes said. “Once we get both of those together — our defense and offense on the same page — I think we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.”

Now matching a season-best mark of two games above .500, Platte County’s tests continue with a road game Liberty North on Monday night. Platte County won last year’s meeting between two eventual state champions in Carter’s varsity debut, giving the Pirates some unique bragging rights after knocking off the Class 6 powerhouse.

Platte County has now alternated stretches of three wins, one loss, four wins, four losses and four wins after starting the year at 1-5.

“We really came together as a team,” said Platte County senior catcher Cameron Dean, who went 1-for-3 and scored the final run in the win over Oak Park. “We came alive in the dugout as a team. Everyone kind of started clicking together, which made us come alive on the field.”

Against Oak Park, Platte County used senior Hunter Canole, sophomore Dayton Doll and senior Aidan Norris in a combined effort to allow just five hits. Both runs came in a difficult second against Canole, who started and went three innings in another solid performance for a pitching staff heavy on options but still looking to nail down a postseason rotation and bullpen.

Canole earned the start after being used mostly in relief. On the fringe of the roster to start the season, his high groundball rate has generated success despite an unorthodox and almost cartoonish windup that sees him rear his arm back across his body before sweeping back around with varied release points.

“He’s just been an anomaly,” Sipes said. “That’s what we need, and he’s done that. He came in and gave up nothing but groundballs. It’s funny you say that because that’s what we kind of refer to him as — the cartoon. He gets up there and looks all around, and he’s hard to read.”

However, Oak Park senior starter Burke Sharpsteen retired the first nine batters in order.

Platte County pulled one back in the bottom of the fourth after senior designated hitter James Schwieder drew a leadoff walk, and the Northmen gifted a second runner. Doll appeared to have grounded into a double play, but instead, the second baseman dropped a short toss from the shortstop and reached on the error.

Two batters later with one out, Schwieder scored on a passed ball to make it 2-1, and Platte County senior Dylan Robertson ended the no-hitter with an infield single.

“You can’t really force anything in the cold,” Dean said. “The game is a lot slower when it’s cold, so you just have to wait for the hits come. You’ve got to be patient.”

Platte County made nothing out of Dean’s leadoff single in the fifth, but Sharpsteen finally wobbled in the sixth when the Pirates sent all nine batters to the plate.

Doll opened with a seeing-eye single to center field before what ended up the biggest at-bat for what became the four-run rally. Pirates senior right fielder Dayne Wimberly squared to bunt and ended up popping a ball that floated and landed perfectly in the triangle between Sharpsteen and Oak Park’s third baseman and shortstop for what ended up a sacrifice-attempt-turned-well-placed single.

Wimberly had homered in two of his past three games ahead of the Saturday doubleheader in cold and windy conditions.

“We know Dayne,” Dean said. “Dayne’s top slugger on this team; kid hits bombs, but you know when push comes to shove, we need some runs, he put the bunt down — did it for the team.”

Robertson followed with his second single to score the tying run, and Wimberly went to third.

With two on and after senior left fielder Jordy Hedrick lined out, Platte County junior center fielder Devin Wassmann smacked a solid single to right field on the first pitch from Oak Park junior reliever Jacob Olmedo to score the go-ahead and eventual winning run.

Dean then grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out and remained in the game for a rare chance to run the bases and not have a courtesy runner replace him.

After Dean stole second to put a second runner in scoring position, Platte County junior third baseman Brian Chandler — receiving more playing time with freshman Brennan McLaughlin having started four straight games at shortstop and Hedrick shifting to outfield — delivered a two-run single to left field on a full count. Oak Park appeared to have Dean cutdown at the plate, only for the catcher to drop the throw while trying to make a tag on an outside slide.

“I saw the ball coming in. I thought for sure I was done, but then he dropped it,” Dean said. “I like running bases. I just don’t get to do it often.”

Doll worked around a pair of walks in the top of the sixth to keep the one-run deficit intact and finished with three scoreless innings of relief.

Having been forced to use the full depth of pitching for the loaded schedule, Sipes went to Norris, a hard-throwing right-hander with occasional control problems. He issued a leadoff walk but came back to retire the next two, including the first of his two strikeouts.

Oak Park eventually loaded the bases with a second walk and a single to left field that brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate. Norris struck him out on three pitches.

“If I could have a team of 10 Aidan Norrises, we’d be state champs every year,” Sipes said. “He just has the, ‘yes, coach’ mentality. He comes in and does whatever we ask. He’s been patient this year and taken advantage of every opportunity. He’s got that raw ability. He can just wing it, and when he can control it, he’s basically unbeatable.”

Platte County ended up with seven singles and two walks, while striking out just four times.

Platte County 2, Lee’s Summit 1

The Pirates also overcame a 1-0 deficit in the opening game of the doubleheader Saturday at Platte County High School.

Platte County senior Dylan Zimmerman delivered a critical 4 1/3 innings of relief, allowing only three hits with no walks while striking out four to earn the victory. The Pirates supported him with a single manufactured run in the bottom of the third thanks to a double from Chandler and another in the sixth on two singles and a Hedrick’s sacrifice fly to score Doll with the go-ahead and eventual winning run.

With the pitching staff taxed all week, Zimmerman provided a much-needed reprieve, and Sipes stuck with him to the end. He retired the side in order on 16 pitches with the last of his strikeouts in the middle.

“It was huge, exactly what we needed,” Sipes said.

Lee’s Summit managed just five hits total after Platte County senior Tyler Erickson opened with 2 2/3 effective innings without a strikeout. The lone run against him in the top of the second was unearned due to two of three errors the Pirates committed.

Chandler doubled to lead off the third and went to third base on a McLaughlin’s productive groundout that allowed the newly re-installed starter to score on a passed ball with Schwieder at the plate.

Zimmerman worked around a pair of one-out singles in the fourth and two more runners in the fifth then used a double-play to erase a hit by pitch in the sixth to keep Platte County tied. The Pirates couldn’t produce a run on singles from Hedrick and Norris in the fourth but found the winning run after Doll and Wimberly both singled to start the sixth.

Doll importantly took third on Wimberly’s single and scored on Hedrick’s flyout to left field to make it 2-1.

Platte County 18, Central (St. Joseph) 11

The Pirates overcame a disastrous bottom of the first inning to fully erase a 5-1 deficit and put the run rule in play Friday at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.

Central took advantage of eight errors to build an early lead and then extend the game, answering Platte County’s run production in both the fifth and sixth. The Indians plated four in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth after falling behind 15-5 after the top of the fifth.

Platte County ended up with just eight hits but that included a three-run home run from Wimberly in the second that put the Pirates up for good and a triple for Norris and double for Chandler in a four-run third. They also drew 12 walks, and Central pitching hit five batters, while the Indians committed three errors of their own.

The big offensive performance helped overcome the shaky defense and the use of five different pitchers.

“I love my pitching staff,” Dean said. “I love everyone on that staff. I know what all them can do, what they’re all capable of.”

Platte County freshman Rocco Marriott started and allowed only one hit and one walk. However, he ended up charged with five unearned runs after the Pirates committed three errors in the bottom of the first that led to Central taking a 5-1 lead.

Marriott struck out four before giving way to junior left-hander Isaiah Smith, who went 1 1/3 innings scoreless with two strikeouts.

Sipes also used junior Ethan Veach, who walked four and allowed four runs in the fifth inning. Platte County went into that inning with a chance to improbably close the game out after Dean’s bases-clearing three-run triple in the fifth put the Pirates ahead 15-5.

“At the beginning of the year, Cam struggled, but since then, he made on adjustment in his swing and it seems like he’s getting two or three hits a game,” Sipes said.

Doll also allowed two unearned runs in the sixth after Platte County had scored two in the top half on back-to-back RBI doubles from Wimberly and Hedrick. Doll struck out two in 1 1/3 innings of work, while Norris struck out the side in order to close out the victory with a clean seventh.

Wimberly went 2-for-2 with a walk and drove in five while scoring three times. Schwieder (two walks), Doll (two walks), senior second baseman Andrew Habel (single plus courtesy running duties), Norris (1-for-5), Dean (1-for-2 with a walk), Zimmerman (1-for-1 with three walks and an RBI) all scored twice.

Chandler went 1-for-3 with four RBIs, while McLaughlin drove in three and finished 1-for-3 with a walk.