Not only did Platte County need the result, but Devin Wassmann providing a pair of big hits to fuel multiple comebacks in Friday’s eventful 10-9 road win at Park Hill in the regular season finale provides another reason for optimism.
Platte County’s junior third-year starting outfielder continued to snap out of an offensive slump with a game-tying three-run home run in the third inning at Park Hill High School then delivered a go-ahead RBI double that eventually accounted for the winning run. The Pirates trailed 3-0, 5-3 and 9-6 but managed the victory despite only four hits total.
Park Hill pitching issued 12 walks and hit two batters, and Platte County sophomore second baseman Dayton Doll (three), freshman Brennan McLaughlin (two) and senior James Schwieder (two) all had multiple stolen bases. The Pirates swiped nine bases total in an aggressive effort to provide run support to junior ace Brayden Carter, and senior Hunter Canole, who earned the win after delivering three shutout innings of relief in a bounceback performance.
Platte County (17-18) goes into the Class 5 District 8 bracket as the defending champion but with the No. 3 seed after an up-and-down regular season. The Pirates have not won more than four straight at any point in defense of last year’s state championship but will have to better that to reach the playoffs for a second straight year.
Kearney (21-9) owns the top seed, while Smithville grabbed the No. 2 (23-10) despite a head-to-head loss to Platte County, which has won two straight following a skid of seven losses in a span of eight games. The Pirates open district play Wednesday against sixth-seeded Pembroke Hill (11-17) at Creekside Baseball Complex.
Platte County played three straight road games in the final week of the regular season, and junior ace Brayden Carter received the start and his final tuneup in the matchup with Park Hill. He yielded nine total runs — only six earned — in a rocky four innings but didn’t walk any and struck out five. The Trojans scattered out nine hits and took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second with four of them.
The first comeback for Platte County started with a walk for senior catcher Cameron Dean and a single for senior first baseman Dylan Robertson. Two pitches later, Wassmann belted a ball over the right field fence to pull the Pirates back even at 3-3.
Park Hill took the lead back with a two-run, inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the frame, but Platte County then produced three runs without a hit to take the lead for the first time at 6-5 in the top of the fourth. The Pirates’ second three-run inning started with junior infielder Brian Chandler hit by a pitch and then an error that allowed him to score from second after a balk moved him up a base.
Platte County then drew four straight walks from Schwieder, Dean, Robertson and Wassmann, who was credited with a go-ahead RBI. However, the Pirates committed two of their three errors in the bottom of the fourth leading to a four-run inning against Carter.
In what ended up three full innings worth of back-and-forth offense, Platte County again benefited from free bases with Doll and Chandler opening the fifth with two walks. Doll then scored on a throwing error from the catcher with McLaughlin at the plate. He eventually reached on a hit by pitch before Schwieder walked to load the bases with no outs.
Two batters later, Robertson brought Platte County within 9-8 on a sacrifice fly to score Chandler, and Wassmann followed with the tying and go-ahead runs on base. The first runner came home on an error, and Wassmann then plated Schneider with a line-drive double to right field.
Canole made the lead stand up, allowing just one hit and a walk in his three innings while striking out four. He gave up a leadoff single and a walk before an error loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but the Trojans’ final five hitters all went down in order.
Platte County 11, North Kansas City 1, 5 innings
The Pirates snapped a three-game losing skid with a dominant victory Wednesday afternoon at Macken Park in North Kansas City.
Wassmann and Robertson both homered, while McLaughlin, Doll and seniors Aidan Norris and Dayne Wimberly all recorded run-scoring extra-base hits in the offensive onslaught. Platte County took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first without a hit when Wimberly led off with a walk, stole second and then took each of the next two bases on wild pitches.
North Kansas City came right back for what ended up the only run Platte County seniors Dylan Zimmerman and Ethan Veach, who combined for five strong innings on the mound. The Pirates then pulled away with three runs in the second, four in the third and three more in the fourth.
Wassmann led off the second with a walk, and Norris scored him with a double to left. He then came home on Doll’s triple to right field. Wimberly drove Doll in with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.
Zimmerman allowed a leadoff single and one-out RBI double in the first and then struck out the next two batters he faced. He ended up retiring eight of the final nine he faced, striking out three in three innings. Veach allowed just one hit in two innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts.
With North Kansas City’s offense in check, Platte County slowly extended the lead. Wassmann, who scored three runs, hit a solo home run with two outs in the third before Norris and Doll reached on back-to-back walks. They both scored on McLaughlin’s double to left field to make it 7-1, and he came around when Wimberly tripled on the next pitch.
Platte County put the run rule into play when Robertson homered to lead off the fourth, and Norris drove in his second run with a sacrifice fly before Doll’s two-out RBI single to make the score 11-1.
Raymore-Peculiar 7, Platte County 5
The Pirates gave back a pair of one-run leads in a road loss last Monday in Peculiar.
Norris finished 2-for-3 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs for Platte County, while Wassmann doubled and scored. Only two of Raymore-Peculiar’s seven runs were earned as a result of four errors from the Pirates’ defense.
Platte County led 1-0 after the top of the first on Robertson’s two-out RBI single to score McLaughlin, who was hit by a pitch to start the game. However, the Pirates needed Wassmann’s double and Norris’ home run back to back in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 3-3. The Pirates then took a 4-3 lead in the fifth on a walk for Doll and two errors.
Raymore-Peculiar took advantage of 10 hits and the defensive miscues to make the two comebacks.
Doll started and gave up three runs — only one earned — in 3 2/3 innings, allowing five hits but no walks while striking out one. Platte County then used junior lefty Isaiah Smith for 1 1/3 innings in relief, but he ended up charged with three unearned runs while striking out three. The Pirates used Canole for the final inning, and he surrendered an insurance run to the Panthers on two hits and two walks but also struck out two.
