With KCI Conference play coming down to the wire, the West Platte baseball team (8-7) split a pair of conference games last week with two more to go in the regular season.
For the Blue Jays’ third KCI Conference victory of the spring, the Lawson brothers led West Platte to a shutout against Lathrop (11-5) on April 26. Logan Lawson tossed 94 pitches and six strikeouts on the mound, while Ty Lawson’s three hits and two RBIs led the Blue Jays to a 6-0 win.
West Platte senior Ty Lawson had big offensive outing in the Blue Jays 6-0 win over Lathrop on April 26.
Ty Lawson’s first at-bat led to the first of two Blue Jay runs in the opening inning – followed by an RBI ground out by Logan Lawson – and then the senior added another run to the scoreboard with an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning. The West Platte defense played well, not allowing any of the four Mule hits lead to any scores.
West Platte increased the margin to six runs with three more hits, along with Logan Lawson reaching first base on a Lathrop error. Cohen Kite had an RBI double in the inning and Ezra Stigman connected with a single to send Jaxon Turner across home plate.
In a matchup with the 2021 Class 2 State Runner-Up in East Buchanan (13-3), West Platte briefly fought back from an early four run deficit, but ultimately was unable to dethrone the Bulldogs. West Platte scored one run in the top of the first inning – on an East Buchanan error – but the Bulldogs tallied five runs in the bottom of the inning, mostly off a grand slam.
The Blue Jays wasted no time regaining the lead, converting on four hits and seven runs in the ensuing inning to go up 8-5. Along with RBIs from Mason Montez, Kite and Stigman, three Blue Jays were walked in the inning. East Buchanan scored one run in three consecutive innings to tie the game 8-8 and West Platte went scoreless the rest of the way.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, East Buchanan sophomore Gage Busby singled to the left field to send the go-ahead run across home plate. In the top of the seventh inning, Stigman was walked but no other Blue Jay reached any base and the game came to an end giving West Platte a 3-2 conference record.
Kite went two-for-four with three RBIs and Montez added two RBIs. Stigman struck out seven batters in five innings and Xavier Reynolds had one strikeout in one inning.
West Platte has two more conference games left – both on the road – against Penney (2-11) on May 4 and Lawson (15-3) on May 6. The Blue Jays will end the regular season at Bishop Miege on May 10 before the Class 2 District 15 Tournament at Plattsburg, starting on May 14.