SHOOK, RATTLED, ROLLED: Platte County stuns No. 1-ranked Vianney to win Class 5 state title

OZARK, Mo. — Fairy tale writers would deem Platte County’s 14-4 victory over in Saturday afternoon’s Class 5 state championship game too unbelievable to be true. The heroes were plentiful for the Pirates, creating surreal moments in a momentous comeback at Ozark Mountain Sports Complex.

Platte County junior Brennan McLaughlin’s line-drive homer in the bottom of the third inning completely changed the trajectory of the game, and senior shortstop Dayton Doll came through in the most pivotal moment of his career with a bases-loaded triple gave the Pirates’ their first lead in a 10-run fourth. In an almost inconceivable culmination, No. 1-ranked Vianney’s collapse concluded with a pinch-hit, run-rule, walkoff RBI from senior infielder Taylor Stambersky, who realistically thought his season ended with a knee injury suffered in late April.

With nobody out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, Stambersky came to the plate and smacked a single to center field, allowing Patrick McCool — a senior squeezed out of a starting spot in a deep outfield — to come unnecessarily sliding across home plate with the winning run.

“I just trusted everything I’ve done,” Stambersky said. “I’ve worked my tail off to get to that point. I just got up to the plate and knew I could do it, and I did it. Originally, I thought I was done, but as (the season) went on, I realized there was still something I could do. I dreamed about it, but I never thought it would actually be a reality.”

But wait. There’s more.

Vianney (39-2) built an early three-run lead and scored in three of the first four innings. Nationally ranked with multiple Division I signees and commits, the Griffins had not allowed more than three runs to any opponent during an 11-game winning streak, which included an 8-3 victory over Marshfield in Friday’s semifinals.

Platte County (29-8) not only overcame the deficit and the perceived odds but invoked the run rule to indelibly claim the third state title in program history and the second at the Class 5 level in four seasons. The Pirates’ first championship came in Class 3A back in 2002 before ending the drought two decades later.

“Super surreal, man,” said Doll, the only four-year starter and remaining holdover from Platte County’s 2022 title run. “Not a lot of teams get here. Really, just living in the moment and loving this opportunity. I couldn’t have been here without my teammates, so I’m just living in the moment.”

After McLaughlin’s home run cut the deficit to 3-2, Vianney came right back to manufacture a run in the top of the fourth inning, but Platte County sophomore Evan Magnuson, who pitched the final four innings and earned the win, stranded a runner at third base and came off the mound in animated fashion. The Pirates responded, sending 16 to the plate and scoring 10 runs on six hits and an error.

Vianney used four different pitchers in the fourth inning and eventually saw a 4-2 lead turn into a 12-4 deficit.

Platte County junior first baseman Brooks Hall led off with a single and reached twice, scoring both times, while senior second baseman Liam Blacklock walked twice, scoring once and driving in another during a stretch of eight straight batters to reach with two outs.

“I told the boys in the pregame talk: ‘Punch them in the face, and they’re going to fold,'” Platte County coach John Sipes said. “Not to take anything from (Vianney). That’s a great team, but I don’t think they have played in an intense game. They basically handled everyone all year long, and when created some adversity and got them on their heels, the moment got a little too big for them.”

After Hall and senior rightfielder Brock Fowler started the fourth with back-to-back singles, Platte County chased Vianney junior starting pitcher Ben Thierauf with the Griffins going to junior left-hander Zach Van Hook, a University of Missouri commit. He recorded only two outs and ended up charged with six runs but only two earned thanks to a pair of errors.

The first came when Platte County freshman Boston Wasserman, an unexpected starter after junior Ian Gold suffered a pregame back injury ahead of Friday’s semifinal win over Rockwood Summit, put down a well-placed sacrifice bunt attempt. Van Hook couldn’t field cleanly, and the bases were loaded. The Pirates closed within one on senior leftfielder Bronson Ryan’s sacrifice fly, and Blacklock reloaded the bases with a walk on a full count.

Doll, Platte County’s all-time leader in career hits, came up mired in a hitting slump but delivered a triple to right-center field, easily scoring Fowler, junior courtesy runner Matthew Cisco and Blacklock to put the Pirates up 6-4.

“Really, just no matter what I do, my teammates always got me,” said Doll, who finished 1-for-3 with a walk and five RBIs in his final game for Platte County. “On that pitch, really just slowing the game down. The game can get really fast, especially in Ozark when you’re playing at state, so slowing the game really helped me the most.”

After McLaughlin struck out, Platte County junior centerfielder Rocco Marriott, who went 3-for-4, slapped a solid single to left field to score Doll and start a decisive two-out rally. The Pirates loaded the bases again after junior designated hitter Andrew Edsall walked, and Van Hook hit Hall with his final pitch. Fowler added a two-run single with Edsall just sliding ahead of an attempted tag from Vianney senior catcher Michael Altobella on a throw from Van Hook in left field after he reentered in the field following his short stint on the mound.

Wasserman walked and Ryan’s bases-loaded single to center field pushed Platte County’s lead to 10-4, and Blacklock and Doll followed with bases-loaded walks to plate the Pirates’ final two runs of the inning before McLaughlin flew out.

“You honestly can’t (explain that inning),” Doll said. “Baseball is a crazy sport — never know what’s going to happen. It’s the best game in the world.”

Magnuson then worked around a leadoff single in the top of the fifth, retiring Vianney senior designated hitter Nolan Jaworowski — a University of Cincinnati signee — for the first and only time in the process.

Marriott’s bunt single started the winning sequence for Platte County. He then stole second and scored on a single to left field from Edsall, who hit a two-run home run in the semifinal victory a night earlier, and the Pirates then ended up with the bases loaded again.

Vianney senior Nick Steurer — the fifth and final pitcher used — hit Hall with a pitch again, and after a passed ball, the Griffins opted to intentionally walk Fowler to load the bases with no outs and set up a force at any base.

Sipes never hesitated, putting Stambersky at the plate in place of Wasserman with a chance to deliver the win for Platte County.

“I’m thinking that (Stambersky) deserves it, and if there’s any kid on the team that deserves it, it’s him,” said Sipes, who notably gave then-sophomore Jordy Hedrick just the second at-bat of his career in what led to a key two-run single in the 2022 state championship game win over Festus. “I knew at that point the game was over. Once he was up to bat and that winning run was at third, I had no doubt the game was done.”

A returning all-state infielder, Stambersky suffered a torn knee ligament on April 23 in a game against Truman and only sporadically appeared the rest of the season and mostly in hitting-specific opportunities. The season essentially ended at that point for him, only to end up with at-bats in the two biggest games of the season.

Stambersky worked a 2-0 count and then slapped a single to center field with McCool, inserted to run for Edsall, able to score standing up only to instead opt for a belly-flop slide across home plate to set off the state championship celebration for Platte County. A starter at the beginning and end of his junior season with an injury in between, McCool ended up in more of a supporting role for the Pirates with Ryan, Marriott and Fowler the most frequently used combination for the Pirates this spring.

Yet, McCool deservedly earned a cameo in one of the program’s most significant moments.

“Everything that we dreamed for and everything that we worked for came true, and it’s just an amazing experience,” said Stambersky, who a night earlier delivered a pinch-hit RBI single to put the finishing touches on the 6-1 win on Rockwood Summit.

“Everyone just picked each other up. Just amazing — can’t believe it,” Doll added.

Platte County actually trailed 2-0 after just five batters against McLaughlin, who started both of the state games.

Vianney senior centerfielder Cole Adair worked a one-out walk, and senior third baseman Trey Jozwiakowski, Jaworowski and Van Hook all followed with singles, the latter two scoring a pair of runs. McLaughlin stranded a pair of runners with Pirates senior third baseman Brady Davis forcing a runner at third on a fielder’s choice groundout and then catching a popout.

Platte County loaded the bases against Thierauf in the bottom of the first on an error, walk for McLaughlin and single for Marriott but didn’t score. The Pirates then went behind 3-0 in the third after Adair led off with a ground-rule double against Magnuson, who scattered five hits but didn’t walk any while striking out one in four innings.

Using creative strategy to maximize use of the top of the pitching rotation in the postseason, Platte County didn’t end up using junior right-hander Zach Brown in either the semifinal or state championship game. McLaughlin and Magnuson both stayed 30 pitches in the state semifinal, keeping them within the limit to throw again without a day of rest between appearances.

Magnuson also went two innings on Friday before Hall threw the final three to close out Rockwood Summit.

“(Magnuson) was a really good pitcher for us. He did his job well and executed, and he’s a big part of the win today,” Stambersky said.

However, Platte County had just one hit going in the first two innings thanks to a difficult scoring decision that gave an error to Jozwiakowski on Blacklock’s ground ball to start the bottom of the first. He finished 1-for-2 with the two walks, ending up with a double in the third on a ball blooped over the shortstop’s head and into shallow left field.

Doll then scored Blacklock with a chopper to second base that resulted in the first out but cut Vianney’s lead to 3-1.

McLaughlin then came up and smoked the third pitch he saw from Thierauf in the at-bat on a line over the left-center field fence in a similar spot to where Edsall’s towering shot went out in Friday’s semifinal to pull Platte County within 3-2. The Pirates next came up to bat down two runs only to slowly fluster the Griffins into a complete unraveling.

Vianney entered having allowed only 76 runs total in the first 40 games of the season but coincidentally gave up 14 in both losses this season, the first on May 10 against Westminster Christian before the winning streak leading the Griffins into their first state title game since winning a Class 5 title in 2018 started.

“Don’t count us out. We’re a scrappy team, and we’ll always bite at the heels of our opponent and we’ll always try our best to come back,” Stambersky said.

Platte County’s third state title came in the program’s first playoff appearance since the second championship. The Pirates lost to Smithville in the Class 5 District 8 semifinals in 2023 and against Kearney in last year’s district title game.

Returning the majority of starters and overwhelming experience, Platte County never lost more than two games in a row and earned a share of the Suburban Conference White Division title. The postseason run included knocking Kearney out in the district semifinals before McLaughlin’s near no-hitter against St. Pius X in the title game.

Platte County then needed a near miraculous set of comebacks to win a best-of-three series in the recently reformatted state quarterfinals for Classes 5 and 6. The Pirates lost the opener to Webb City but took both halves of a Saturday doubleheader last week with the Cardinals squandering two-run leads in the seventh and ninth innings of the decisive game.

The improbabilities continued in Ozark.

After a clean win over Rockwood Summit, Platte County authored an unforgettable closing chapter for a class of 10 seniors. Doll started at second base as a freshman and sophomore before taking over at shortstop for the last two seasons in one of the best careers for a player in program history.

Stambersky, Blacklock, McCool, Ryan and Davis all earned various amounts of starting experience over the next two years, and Fowler rejoined many of his youth teammates at Platte County as a senior after moving in from Staley. The Pirates also regularly utilized Wes Chiddix, Owen Rawlings and Poul Gratereaux-Baez, another first-year transfer, on a deep pitching rotation that narrowed as the postseason progressed.

“It’s so special,” Sipes said. “It’s very difficult to get back here to this location, so it’s just a testament to their hard work and efforts.”