Landon Bartlett struck out four batters Panthers 9-4 win over Northland Christian on April 25.
Three quarters of the way into the season, the North Platte baseball team (7-7) is in uncharted territory: currently posting a .500 record.
The Panthers’ offense has been clicking this spring, averaging 8.3 runs per game – which is more runs than they’ve averaged in any of the last 15 seasons. The North Platte defense is also playing well, allowing 6.7 runs per game, which is the least amount since 2016.
The last time that North Platte ended the season with more runs scored than given up was 2018 when it averaged 0.6 more runs on offense than it did on defense. The Panthers had their five-game winning streak snapped by Plattsburg (16-6) on April 21.
The Panthers played near perfect baseball in the opening inning, allowing no hits and then pouring out five runs. The Tigers helped North Platte out – walking three batters and having an error in the inning – but a pair of RBI singles from Colton Kirkham and Ryan York propelled the Panthers to a quick 5-0 lead.
Plattsburg immediately responded with five runs of its own in the ensuing inning, followed by two scoreless innings. With the game tied 5-5 in the top of the fifth inning, North Platte’s defense struggled and allowed seven Plattsburg runs.
The Panthers went through four pitchers in the inning – Kirkham, York, Creek Johnson and Kaden Mullendore – who combined for eight walked batters. Plattsburg only had two hits in the inning but took a 12-5 lead with only one out when Mullendore came in to close out the inning with a forced pop fly and strikeout.
North Platte added one more run but was unable to dig itself out of the hole in the aftermath of the fifth inning. Kirkham went three-for-four on offense, and Chance Garber had two RBIs.
North Platte bounced back in its next game to get back to .500 when the Panthers had nine hits to defeat Northland Christian (5-10) 9-4 on senior night on April 25. After allowing one run in the top of the first inning, the Panthers rattled off five hits and five runs in the opening two innings.
North Platte scored at least one run each inning, and while Northland Christian added three runs in the third and fifth inning, the home team pulled out the victory. Landon Bartlett started the game on the mound and the senior struck out four batters in four innings, while also batting two-for-three on offense.
The Panthers will head to Lathrop (8-4) for a big KCI Conference clash on April 28. North Platte will only have three games left in the regular season after it competes in the WildKat Blast on April 30.