The West Platte baseball team (2-3) bounced back from an early season losing skid with a 7-5 victory over Northland Christian (0-3) in the West Platte Invitational on March 26.
West Platte opened up the tournament with a tough defeat against East Buchanan (3-0) as the eventual tournament champion Bulldogs won 6-0 on March 25. The Blue Jays’ offense struggled with only three hits against the Bulldogs and East Buchanan used a five-run third inning to propel them to the victory.
West Platte junior Xavier Reynolds had five strikeouts against Sumner Academy on March 26.
On the second day of tournament play, a high-scoring third inning, when there were 15 total runs scored, eventually led to Sumner Academy narrowly coming out on top 8-7. The Blue Jays took an early 1-0 lead in the opening inning when Xavier Reynolds scored on a wild pitch before Sumner Academy went up 2-1 in the second inning.
A 2-run home run by Dublin Carnahan in the top of the third inning – that batted in Mason Montez – was the first of seven West Platte runs in the inning. Logan Lawson had an RBI single before two more runs were walked in and Reynolds scored on a fielder’s choice.
With West Platte leading 8-2, Sumner Academy responded with five hits and eight runs to go back on top 10-8. The Blue Jays had four more hits in the game but were unable to earn another run.
Reynolds struck out five batters and Ezra Stigma struck out three batters as the junior duo shared time on the mound. Ty Lawson and Logan Lawson both had two hits each and Carnahan led the team with three RBIs.
In the final game of the West Platte Invitational, a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted the Blue Jays over Northland Christian. West Platte never trailed in the contest, but a 5-2 margin became a 5-5 tie in the top of the sixth inning when the Trailblazers had four singles to knot up the game.
With Reynolds and Carnahan on second and third base, Ty Lawson had a 2-run RBI single to put the Blue Jays up 7-5. Northland Christian had one more chance on offense, but Montez caught a line drive and threw out a ground ball for the first two outs before Gunner Smith struck out the third Trailblazer batter to end the inning and the game.
Logan Lawson spent the first five innings on the mound when he struck out nine batters and only gave up one run. West Platte had nine hits, led by senior Ty Lawson who had two hits and three RBIs.
The Blue Jays started the season off with an 8-4 victory over Dekalb (0-2) and 3-1 loss to St. Joseph Christian (2-0) in the Blue Jay Bash on March 19. West Platte’s next game will be on the road in its first KCI contest against Penney (0-2) on March 31.