Platte County’s quest for another Suburban Conference Blue Division title received a huge bump Thursday, May 4 at Platte County High School.
In a second matchup between the top contenders, the Pirates again escaped with a 3-1 victory with senior designated hitter Drew Parmeley supplying a pair of early RBIs. Jared Wilson, Grant Carver and Blake Conner combined to allow only one run on seven hits while walking none.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
Platte County senior Justin Mitchell hits a line drive against Kearney on Thursday, May 4 at Platte County High School.
Kearney tagged Carver, the first reliever, with a run in the top of the sixth on a double and a single — both with two outs — to close within 2-1. Conner came in for the seventh and stranded the potential tying runs at first and second to close out the win.
Platte County improved to 8-0 in Blue Division with the win and then closed out an unbeaten run in league play with wins over Grandview and Raytown South over the next four days. The Pirates have now won three straight Blue Division titles.
Kearney was the last major road block.
Wilson, who started and threw three innings with four strikeouts, provided some insurance for Platte County with a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead back to two runs at 3-1. Ethan Esdohr, who went 2-for-3, scored on the play after his second single of the game.
Platte County’s other offense came early.
ROSS MARTIN/Citizen photo
Platte County senior first baseman Austin Gammill makes contact with a pitch in a Suburban Conference Blue Division game with Kearney on Thursday, May 4 at Platte County High School. The Pirates won 3-1 and wrapped up the league title the next day.
Kobe Cummings led off the bottom of the first with a walk and moved to third on catcher Justin Mitchell’s bloop double down the right field line. Parmeley’s sacrifice fly gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead and put Mitchell at third, but he ended up stranded.
In the bottom of the third, Cummings walked but was thrown out trying to steal. Ryan Frazier then hit a two-strike single and moved into scoring position when Mitchell lined out. Kearney pitcher Clayton Noud then committed a throwing error, lobbing the ball over the first baseman’s head with Frazier in position to be doubled off first.
With Frazier at second, Parmeley blasted a double off the left-field wall to make it 2-0.
Platte County ended up with 10 hits, including two apiece for Cummings, Esdohr and Max Hunter. The Pirates stranded seven and also had two runners caught stealing to limit scoring opportunities.
Platte County 5, Grandview 0
The Pirates made the most of just five hits and went on to wrap up the Blue Division crown with a shutout victory Friday, May 5 at Platte County High School.
In the final regular season game at home, Platte County shuttled in all of its seniors, including injured senior outfielder and pitcher Colton Horn for one inning. He will miss the rest of the year with a torn labrum but played in the field for the top of the seventh inning.
Platte County used six pitchers, including seniors Nick Rhude, Ryan Frazier and John Termini, to combine on a shutout. Rhude also took an at-bat, striking out in the bottom of the second.
In the second, Dillon Doll hit a one-out single and scored on a wild pitch to put Platte County up 1-0.
The Pirates made it 3-0 after three when Cummings led off with a walk and scored on Frazier’s single. Frazier came home with the third run on Parmeley’s sacrifice fly to center.
The final two runs came in the fifth when Frazier walked with one out and scored two pitches later on Mitchell’s sixth home run of the season.
Platte County 17, Raytown South 1
The Pirates scored runs in six of seven innings, but seven came in the top of the seventh of a lopsided win Monday, May 8 in Raytown, Mo.
Platte County, ranked No. 10 in the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 5 rankings, used six pitchers but a single run in the fourth kept the Pirates from finishing the game early. Raytown South pitching gave up 18 hits — doubles for Parmeley (two), Mitchell, Cummings and Esdohr — and four walks but six errors only led to three unearned runs.
Despite all the offense, Platte County stranded nine runners. Sixteen players had at least one at-bat as the Pirates finished off their perfect 10-0 run through the Blue Division after locking up the league title three days earlier.