Park Hill ended a nine-game losing streak and avenged a previous loss Monday, May 8.
Chase McCollom and Liam Henry walked and scored on Austin Brooks’ single in the fifth to give the Trojans the lead for good in a 4-3 victory at in Raymore, Mo. The Panthers won the previous matchup, starting a lengthy stretch of struggles for the Trojans.
Park Hill earned a much-needed win with the postseason starting this week.
Up 1-0 after the top of the third on Tyler Watson’s RBI single to score Ashton Brady, the Trojans then gave up two in the bottom of the inning to fall behind. They went back ahead in the fifth with Watson hitting a one-out double before the two walks loaded the bases.
Grant Mertz couldn’t score a runner, grounding into a fielder’s choice that cut down Watson at the plate, but Brooks followed with a two-out single. Mertz was then thrown out at home trying to score on Zayne Morrow’s single.
Park Hill added a fourth run in the top of the seventh on an error. Raymore-Peculiar plated one in the seventh off of Bryce Balusek but stranded the potential tying run at first.
With the win, Park Hill improved to 13-13 overall and 3-8 in Suburban Conference Gold Division play with the regular season finale scheduled at Blue Springs South on Wednesday, May 10. The Trojans open Class 5 District 16 play on Saturday, May 13 against Park Hill South at Platte County High School.
The winner advances to play top-seeded Platte County on Monday, May 15.
Lee’s Summit West 6, Park Hill 5
The Titans rallied late for one run to pull the sweep of a Gold Division doubleheader Saturday, May 6 in Kansas City, Mo.
Coming off a pair of losses in a doubleheader with Blue Springs two days earlier, Park Hill fought back from an early 3-0 deficit and tied the score 5-5 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Henry hit a two-run double to score Watson and McCollom, who started the inning with a double and a single.
Henry scored on Mertz’s single, but Park Hill left the bases loaded and never led.
Lee’s Summit West came back with one run in the top of the sixth off of Balusek, who ended up with the loss after allowing four hits in two innings of relief. The Trojans had a runner thrown out at the plate in the seventh and left two more runners on before leaving the potential tying run at second in the seventh.
Lee’s Summit West 10, Park Hill 3
The Titans scored three runs again in the top of the first of the other half of the
doubleheader.
Park Hill ended up with just one hit against two Lee’s Summit West pitchers, who combined to issue six walks. A walk resulted in a run in the bottom of the first when Henry walked, went to second on a hit by pitch and scored on two wild pitches.
The scored ended up tied 3-3 in the bottom of the third when again Henry walked and Mertz was hit by a pitch. After Brooks was hit by a pitch, a run scored on Morrow’s RBI groundout, and Mertz came home on a wild pitch.
Connor Morehouse took the loss, allowing 10 runs on 12 hits and four walks for Park Hill.
Blue Springs 7, Park Hill 0
The Wildcats swept a Gold Division doubleheader Thursday, May 4 in Blue Springs, Mo. with both games played on the same day at the same site due to recent postponements.
Blue Springs scored three runs — two earned — against Henry in five innings. He struck out six, allowed only three hits and two walks before giving way to Joseph Daneff, who allowed five of the first six runners to reach in the Wildcats’ four-run sixth.
Park Hill had five hits, all singles, in the loss.
Blue Springs 5, Park Hill 4
In the opener, the Trojans lost leads of 3-2 and 4-3 when Blue Springs plated a pair in the bottom of the sixth.
Park Hill went ahead 3-2 in the third after Ryan Lack led off with a single. McCollom scored him with a two-out double to left-center field, and Henry followed with a home run to center.
Blue Springs answered with the tying run in the bottom of the third, but Park Hill went up one run again on Lack’s two-out RBI double in the fourth.
The lead held until the sixth when Blue Springs scored twice against starter Ethan Boyd, who went 5 1/3 innings but ended up with the loss. Both teams ended up with five hits.