WESTON – It took nearly a decade’s time, but the West Platte baseball team (12-5) finally surpassed 10 wins in a season.
West Platte dominated from 2010-2016, earning six district titles in that timeframe, but has only finished with a winning record since then. Other than finishing with exactly 10 wins in 2019 and 2021, the Blue Jays have failed to earn double digit wins until now.
Since losing 3-2 to Bishop LeBlond (2-9) on April 15, West Platte put together back-to-back-to-back triumphs by a total score of 30-11. The first of those wins was against Mid-Buchanan (14-5) on April 18.
In the third, fourth and sixth innings, the Blue Jays put one run on the board to come out on top 3-0. The Dragons had three crucial errors on the day and the Blue Jays’ Jhett Chandler finished with two hits and one RBI as Jaxon Turner struck out 15 batters.
West Platte then hit the road to take on Kingsville (4-7) and Sherwood (3-14) on April 20. The Blue Jays trailed 6-1 after one inning to Kingsville and ended up winning 13-7.
West Platte took advantage of four walks to get into scoring position and ended up scoring five runs in the top of the second inning. After Gunner Smith had an RBI double, Turner had a grand slam to tie the contest.
Blaze Masoner walked in a run in the bottom of the second inning and West Platte responded with two runs in the third inning. A four single, four run fifth inning put the game away and the Blue Jays added one run in the seventh inning.
West Platte ended the day with another comeback as it erased a 3-1 deficit to win 14-4. The Blue Jays scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning and put seven more runs on the board in the ensuing inning.
Cohen Kite had a home run over the right field fence to send Smith and Turner home. Alex Allison and Turner both had RBIs in the inning and two runs were scored when Jaxon Davis reached first base on an error.
Matthew Cook struck out seven batters and only gave up three hits. West Platte will head to East Buchanan (5-12) on April 25.