The Park Hill baseball team (7-16) was on the opposite end of two games that had one-run margins in the past week when the Trojans took down Lee’s Summit North (9-18) on April 27 and fell short against Blue Springs (13-18) on April 29.
In the first of the two matchups, Park Hill trailed Lee’s Summit North 3-0 entering the fourth inning when six hits and two Bronco errors led to five Trojan runs. The first runs occurred on a dropped fly ball when Jackson Kline hit a fly ball and the next batter, Chris Kemp, had an RBI single.
Aiden Brooks had a triple early in the Trojans’ 12-11 loss to Blue Springs.
Another Lee’s Summit North error turned into another Park Hill run – tying the game at three – before back-to-back doubles by Jaxson Grayson and Jake Daneff gave the Trojans a 6-3 lead. The Broncos knotted the game at six in the fifth inning, then Lee’s Summit North went back on top with one run in the sixth inning.
After Luke Moore walked with one out in the ensuing inning, a single from Aiden Brooks and Kline loaded the bases. The Broncos walked back-to-back batters to give the Trojans the lead and the Park Hill defense closed out the game with a double play and a Dayton Howard strikeout in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Park Hill wasn’t on the winning side of its next contest that was decided by one run. Blue Springs defeated the Trojans 12-11 when Park Hill’s comeback bid fell short.
Brooks and Daneff both tripled in the opening two innings to propel Park Hill to an early 6-0 lead. The Wildcats responded with 11 runs in the next two innings and the Trojans entered the sixth inning trailing 11-7.
Kline doubled when Mertz was on base, sending him home, and the Trojans chipped at the deficit. Blue Springs added one run in the top of the seventh inning to go up 12-8 and Park Hill had one more chance to extend or win the game.
Moore started the inning with a bang, tripling and giving the Trojans hope for a late comeback. Brooks sent Moore home with a single and Howard reached first base on a ground ball to center field.
Park Hill’s next two batters grounded out, but Brooks scored, and Blue Springs’ lead was down to two runs. Cade King singled on a ground ball to the shortstop and Howard went home, bringing the score to 12-11.
With two outs and one runner on base, Grayson stepped up to the plate. The Trojan made contact with the pitch, but couldn’t reach first base before grounding out and the game came to an end.
Park Hill had 14 hits led by King with three hits, while Moore, Brooks, Grayson and Joe Guastelo all had two hits. Jase Johnson and Kemp combined for nine strikeouts on the day.