Heading into the seventh inning trailing 3-2 against East Buchanan (13-4), it appeared the West Platte baseball team (8-9) would lose yet again to the Bulldogs, but Ezra Stigman delivered.
West Platte had an 11-game losing skid against the KCI rival ahead of the day, with its last victory being on April 13, 2017. That changed when Stigman hit the game-winning hit with no outs on April 27.
The Bulldogs had struggles pitching in the inning, walking three of the first four batters and allowing a single by Cohen Kite. East Buchanan even chose to switch up the mound situation, subbing in Landon DeLong for Bronco Whitt after two batters, and Stigman connected with a double to right field.
The Blue Jays came away with a 4-3 victory on the day, with that final run being the only time they were ahead. The Bulldogs scored a run in the top of the first inning when Gage Busby – who was responsible for all three of his team’s runs – had a sacrifice fly RBI.
Busby put East Buchanan up 3-0 in the third inning on a 2-RBI single. The Blue Jays closed out the inning, then added two more runs in the bottom of the third inning as Jaxon Turner had a 2-RBI single on a line drive to right field.
Kite had four of the Blue Jays’ seven hits with Jhett Chandler, Turner and Stigman all having one hit each. Gunner Smith pitched the entire game and struck out five Bulldogs.
This was a big win for West Platte who was 2-7 in its last nine games, including two straight losses. The Blue Jays lost 4-2 to South Nodaway (13-1) on April 21 and fell 6-1 to Lathrop (8-11) on April 25.
West Platte erupted for a season-high 20 runs – more runs than the previous five games combined – in a shut out victory over DeKalb (0-9) on May 1. The Blue Jays will head to Penney (2-13) on May 3 before the Class 2 District 15 Tournament, which will be at Plattsburg starting on May 3.