North Platte senior John Winkle erupted for five RBIs along with a triple in the Panthers’ 13-3 win over Plattsburg on April 18.
DEARBORN – Spending the last 11 months remembering the 4-3 loss to Plattsburg in the 2023 Class 2 District 15 Baseball Tournament, North Platte (12-2) was able to get revenge on April 18.
Going into the day, North Platte hadn’t beaten Plattsburg (9-13) at home since 2017 and had failed to score double-digit runs against the KCI Conference rivals since 2011. The Panthers ended both of those droughts, winning 13-3.
In the top of the second inning, Plattsburg had four singles and scored three runs, but North Platte locked up defensively the rest of the day. Colton Kirkham only allowed one more hit and kept the Tigers from scoring another run as the senior pitcher ended with 13 strikeouts.
The 3-0 deficit was brief as the Panthers responded with five quick runs in the bottom of the second and third innings. That started in the second inning when John Winkler had an RBI on a ground out and Creek Johnson doubled to center field to send Hunter Palmer home.
In the third inning, Ben Jaycox hit a pop fly to second base – reaching first base on an error – and one run was scored on the play. Winkler had an RBI double to put North Platte up 5-3.
The Panthers erupted for six runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by three doubles by Jaxson Carpenter, Chance Garber and Jaycox. Winkler added an RBI triple and eventually got all the way around the bases to push the score to 11-3.
North Platte put the game away with two more runs in the fifth inning and like many other times this season, the contest was called shy of seven innings due to a mercy rule margin of runs. Kirkham went 3-of-4 and Winkler had a monstrous day batting with five RBIs.
The victory not only made North Platte 4-1 in the KCI Conference, but also made it seven wins in a row. The Panthers will only have one home game for the rest of the season – against Rock Port (7-3) on April 29 – as a trip to Lathrop (4-9) on April 25 will be the first of four road games to close out the season.