Platte County senior Dayton Howard scored one run in the Trojans 15-6 loss to Liberty North on March 28.
The Park Hill baseball team (6-7) has been in a bit of a rut lately, losing five of its last six games after an impressive 5-2 start.
Park Hill lost its first home game of the year against Liberty North (13-3) on March 28. This was the second matchup of the short season between the two squads with the Eagles winning both.
Liberty North is the reigning Class 6 State Champions and opened the year with a 10-0 win over Park Hill before a slightly closer matchup with the same result in round two. The Trojans put up more of a fight but fell 15-6 in the second time taking on the Eagles.
Park Hill headed to Raymore-Peculiar (4-5) and lost its second of four in a row on March 29. Raymore-Peculiar scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning before Dayton Howard had a home run over center field on the second pitch of the fourth inning.
The Panthers added two more runs in the sixth inning to go up 4-1, but the Trojans didn’t go away as they had one runner on and two outs in the seventh inning when Braydan Resch stepped up to the plate and singled. Garrison Mertz had an RBI double in the ensuing at bat to close the gap 4-3, but the Trojans were unable to extend the game and lost by that score.
Next up for Park Hill was the reigning Class 6 Runner-Up, Blue Springs (8-4), on March 31. The Wildcats won 4-2 when the Trojans left multiple runners on base throughout the night, ending with six hits as Kaeden Pak and Mertz both had two each.
For the third straight game, Park Hill fell short in a close road game as Staley (9-3) came out on top, 3-1, on April 3. The Falcons walked three Trojans in the first four at-bats of the game and Resch scored after a pop fly by Jaxon Miller to right field.
Zane Baker was the only Trojan to have a hit on the day as the Falcons scored all three of their runs in the second inning. Mertz struck out 10 Staley batters on the day.
Park Hill ended the losing skid with a 7-5 victory at home over Lee’s Summit North (6-7) on April 5. Logan Hampton and Pak both singled in the second inning – and the Broncos had two errors – as the Trojans took an early 6-0 advantage. Lee’s Summit North made a comeback bid, but Park Hill was able to hold it off behind two strikeouts each from Jase Johnson and Jaxon Grayson.
Most recently, Park Hill lost 9-7 to Oak Park (9-3) despite scoring multiple runs in the first three innings on April 7. After trailing 3-0, Oak Park tied the game in the second inning before the Trojans re-took a 5-3 advantage in the bottom of the second inning.
Once again, the Northmen scored three runs and went ahead 6-5 in the third inning before Park Hill took control 7-6. Oak Park scored two runs in the ensuing inning and the high-scoring start ended with only one more run the rest of the way.
The Northmen led 8-7 and added one final run in the seventh inning and Park Hill went 0-for-3 in the final inning with a chance to extend the game. Miller led the Trojans with three hits and one RBI and Maxx Houchins had two hits.