North Platte sophomore John Winkler, who went to Northland Christian last year, struck out three of his former teammates in the Panthers’ 7-3 loss at Creekside Baseball Complex on April 24.
A 10-game stint that saw nine victories – including eight in a row – finally came to an end for the North Platte baseball team (10-4) when a rough fourth inning against Northland Christian (11-6) was too much to overcome on April 24.
The Panthers had a less than ideal start to the spring, beginning with a 2-4 record through the opening six games, but bounced back with quite a winning streak. North Platte hasn’t strung together more than five straight victories in more than 15 years, but that changed recently.
For a team that has won eight or less games 10 times since 2009, the recent surge of consecutive victories puts the Panthers in uncharted waters. North Platte’s defense has been a catalyst for that success, only allowing 3.8 runs per game opposed to 6.4 last season – which was its first time with a winning record or double-digit triumphs in more than a decade and a half.
With only three games being decided by less than nine runs in that 8-game stretch – a 7-6 win over West Platte (6-8), a 5-4 win over Kansas City Lutheran (5-4) and a 3-1 win over Plattsburg (13-8) – North Platte outscored the other five teams 63 to six. The Panthers erupted for a season-high 18 runs against North Andrew (1-9) on April 18 and 14 runs in a matchup with Polo (2-12) on April 21.
North Platte took on Northland Christian for the third straight season and came up short, 7-3. The Panthers struck first when a double by Chance Garber in the fourth at-bat of the game put them ahead 1-0. The Trailblazers scored two runs in the second inning and one run in the third inning to go up 3-1.
The fourth inning is what hurt North Platte the most as it gave up three hits, walked four batters, had an error and allowed four runs. When the inning finally ended, Northland Christian was up 7-1.
In the top of the sixth inning, Colton Kirkham singled on the first at-bat to get into scoring position – with Grady Coons subbing in as the courtesy runner and the following two batters flying out –Jaxson Carpenter had an RBI double to send Coons home. Creek Johnson had an RBI single in the inning as well to give the Panthers three runs, but the Trailblazers responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Trailing by four runs in the last inning, North Platte had one last chance to keep the winning streak alive. Benjamin Jaycox singled on a hit to right field and eventually advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Wesley Meadows.
Kaden Mullendore and Kirkham both made contact in the final two at-bats for the Panthers, but both of them failed to reach first base. Kirkham was the only player for North Platte to have multiple hits – ending with two – as five others had one hit.
Johnson was on the mound for nearly four innings and struck out two batters before being relieved by John Winkler. The sophomore pitcher is in his first year at North Platte after attending Northland Christian in 2022 and he struck out three of his former teammates.
The Panthers will have five more games ahead of the Class 2 District 15 Tournament that will be played at Perkins Park in Plattsburg. North Platte’s final KCI Conference game will be against Lathrop (7-9) on April 27.