RIVERSIDE, Mo. — With the offense doing work, Glen Gammill needed only 43 pitches for a complete game victory against Park Hill South.
Platte County’s sophomore right-hander struck out only one, but the Pirates’ defense made play after play in a brisk 11-1 win in the first game of a nonconference doubleheader Saturday, May 6 at Park Hill South High School. After back-to-back perfect innings, Gammill allowed a single in the bottom of the third, and Malik Stevenson’s leadoff double in the fourth led to the Panthers’ only run.
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
Platte County sophomore Glen Gammill delivers to a Park Hill South batter Saturday, May 6 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo.
“Gammill threw well,” Park Hill South coach Josh Walker said. “He mixes pitches well and he had a lead to pitch with and he filled up the zone and he didn’t walk anybody. I think that we were a little anxious the first time through and I thought we put some good swings on him but we hit right at them, which a good pitcher pitches to his defense, and he did a good job.”
In a potential district preview, Platte County scored at least two runs in four of five innings.
Drew Parmeley drove in three runs, while Justin Mitchell and Austin Gammill had two RBIs apiece with the middle of the order continuing to produce. Austin Gammill doubled in a run in the two-run first, and Mitchell hit a two-run double in a four-run second.
Kobe Cummings, hitting leadoff for Platte County, walked his first three times up and scored all three times.
“We’ve played a lot of baseball games this week so getting our pitchers a lead so they can pitch comfortably, that was big,” Platte County coach Rob Davenport said. “One of the things we’ve prided ourselves on this year is not walking people, so if they don’t walk people, we’ve got a good defense and should be able to make plays.”
Park Hill South starter Chase Putnam jumped ahead of hitters, throwing 11 first-pitch strikes, but he recorded only two strikeouts. He gave up nine runs, seven of which were earned, in three-plus innings.
Platte County worked seven walks against him, three to start the fourth which forced Walker to make a pitching change.
“He just didn’t have it,” Park Hill South coach Josh Walker. “Chase battled. He got the first inning with two walks and then he battled out of it only allowing the two runs, but he struggled control-wise all day.”
Platte County ended up sweeping the doubleheader and added a Suburban Conference Blue Division victory Monday to cap a week of seven wins in seven days. The Pirates have won 10 straight and sit at 21-2 entering the regular season finale, also against Park Hill South on Wednesday, May 10.
In the Class 5 District 16 tournament, Platte County will have the top seed and a bye and face either Park Hill or Park Hill South in a semifinal scheduled for Monday, May 15 at Platte County High School.
“I think we’re looking very strong right now,” Cummings said. “We’re starting to peak and that’s where you want to start peaking is going into districts.”
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
Park Hill South senior center fielder Andrew Aswegan, left, slides after a fly ball against Platte County on Saturday, May 6 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo.
Platte County 7, Camdenton 0
The Pirates, originally scheduled to play a doubleheader with Park Hill, won their second game with a shutout Saturday, May 6 in Riverside, Mo.
After scoring six in the top of the first, Platte County used Ethan Esdohr (2 1/3 innings), Dalton Reichers (2 1/3 innings), Blake Conner (two innings) and Ryan Frazier (1/3 of an inning) to throw a combined shutout. Esdohr (five) and Reichers (four) combined for the majority of the Pirates’ 10 strikeouts.
The first four batters in the bottom of the first reached for Platte County.
Cummings led off with a single and stole a base, Ryan Frazier walked and Mitchell doubled in the first run. Parmeley scored the next two with a single and then scored on Colby Sneed’s single to center field.
Nine of 11 batters reached in the inning, including two hits for Cummings, and an out on the base paths limited the damage. Dillon Doll also had an RBI double for Platte County, scoring on Cummings’ second single of the inning. The Pirates had 12 hits total.
Park Hill South 3, Camdenton 1
A leadoff single from Jake Kline started a two-run first, and the Panthers never trailed in the second game of their doubleheader Saturday, May 6 in Riverside, Mo.
Kline scored on Andrew Aswegan’s groundout two batters later, and Stevenson, who walked, came home on a wild pitch. Park Hill South went up 3-0 in the third when Stevenson’s leadoff single turned into a run on Aswegan’s double three pitches later.
Collin Brougham threw 6 1/3 innings to earn the win, striking out eight and allowing just one run in the top of the seventh. Alex Rodriguez came on in relief and worked around a walk to record two outs and take the save.
NICK INGRAM/Citizen photo
Platte County senior catcher hits a ball against Park Hill South on Saturday, May 6 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo.
Platte County 7, Staley 5, 8 innings
The Pirates locked up the district’s top seed with a win over the No. 2 seed on Tuesday, May 2 in Kansas City, Mo.
Staley overcame deficits of 3-0 and 5-3 to force extra innings, but Mitchell’s two-run home run in the top of the eighth plated the winning runs. Platte County never trailed after Cummings walked to start the eighth, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Mitchell’s home run to center.
Conner, the third pitcher of the day for Platte County, retired Staley in order to finish out the win.
Platte County led 1-0 after the first when Cummings led off the game with a double. He scored two batters later on Mitchell’s single to center field.
Jared Wilson started on the mound for Platte County and worked around at least one runner in each of the first four innings. Grant Carver, who worked the next two innings, kept it scoreless through four, and the Pirates made it 3-0 in the top of the fifth on two-out RBI singles for Parmeley and Austin Gammill.
Carver gave up three in the bottom of the fifth, but Platte County went ahead 5-3 in the top of the seventh on two-out RBI singles for Doll and Max Hunter.
Staley tied it again in the bottom of the seventh against Conner, who came on in the seventh. A leadoff error contributed to a pair of runs, but Platte County stranded the potential winning run at first base.
Platte County 7, North Kansas City 2
The Pirates scored all seven in the bottom of the second Wednesday, May 3 at Platte County High School.
In all, Platte County sent 11 batters to the plate in the big inning, and the scoring started with bases-loaded walks to Hunter and Wilson. Cummings scored a third run with a groundout to make it 4-0, and Mitchell’s two-run double provided the biggest blow.
Glen Gammill (two innings), Reichers (two innings), Nick Rhude (two innings) and John Termini (one inning) combined to strike out seven for Platte County.
St. Joseph Central 5, Park Hill South 4
The Panthers suffered another late-inning loss Friday, May 5 in Suburban Conference Red Division play, one day after upsetting the league leaders.
Central struck for one run in the fifth, cut the Park Hill South lead to 4-2 in the sixth and then scored three to take the lead in the top of the seventh. The Panthers led 4-0 after plating four unearned in the second but couldn’t hold the lead.
Park Hill South 4, Liberty North 3
The Panthers scored an upset of state-ranked Liberty North on Thursday, May 4 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside, Mo.
Park Hill South took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Brougham started the rally with a single but didn’t end up scoring. Rodriguez and Kline followed with back-to-back walks to load the bases.
After a fielder’s choice cut down Brougham at the plate, three runs came home on Aswegan’s two-out RBI single. Stevenson, who reached on the fielder’s choice, came home while Aswegan was caught in a rundown and eventually tagged out for the third out.
The run ended up being important.
Liberty North, ranked No. 4 in the most recent Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5 poll, scored one each in the sixth and seventh innings. Ryan Hagen, who started and threw 6 2/3 innings, limited a leadoff double to just one run in the sixth, and Brougham recorded a strikeout after allowing an RBI triple to the first batter he faced in relief.
The strikeout stranded the potential tying run at third base.
Smithville 8, Park Hill South 6
The Panthers allowed four unearned runs total and lost an early lead after allowing five runs total in the third and fourth innings Monday, May 8 in Smithville, Mo.
A one-out single from Stevenson led to a run in the top of the first for Park Hill South. He stole two bases and scored on Stephen Personelli’s groundout. The Panthers didn’t score again until the fifth when a rally came up one run short.
Smithville led 7-1 at that point, but Park Hill South batted nine in the fifth and scored five. Kline had a two-run triple and scored on a wild pitch, and Smithville had a pair of errors in the inning. The Panthers ended up stranding the potential tying run at first.