After giving up leads in back-to-back innings, a third lead for the West Platte baseball team was the charm in a rivalry road matchup on April 16 against North Platte in a grueling test between two conference unbeatens.
Heavy offensive rallies kept both teams in it, but a four-run rally in the eighth inning for West Platte was a mountain too tall for North Platte to overcome. The Blue Jays could finally breathe a sigh of relief with an 11-7 victory after junior reliever Blaze Masoner retired the final three outs in Dearborn, leaving two runners on base with North Platte’s third potential game-tying run on deck.
“We answered the call,” West Platte head coach Brian Faulkner said. “These guys were in a position where we got up early and kind of had the hammer on our side, then they came back.”
It was a night where West Platte showed its resilience in the face of numerous setbacks. The Blue Jays used 15 hits to score 11 runs, with all nine batters scoring a run or hitting an RBI.
“It was a good game for our bats,” said West Platte sophomore shortstop and reliever Reed Elms, who had four RBIs. “We needed that to get our confidence up a little bit. We’ve been struggling to hit the ball a little bit, but that will get us going right there.”
The first four innings were much more inconspicuous than the final four. West Platte found the first run of the game in the second inning after Jaxon Davis’ leadoff single, eventually coming around to score after stealing his way into scoring position and scoring on a ground out from Carter Conrad.
For a team that prides itself on its fundamental and athletic defense, West Platte gave early signals that it would become a roller coaster of an evening by committing errors in each of the first four innings. But each time, with a runner in scoring position all four innings, the Blue Jays’ defense bailed itself out.
West Platte eventually built some separation in the fifth inning, where they scored three more runs to take a 4-0 lead in the top half of the inning. Back-to-back walks to open the frame set up RBI singles for Masoner and Davis to put the Blue Jays in firm control.
North Platte quickly responded in the bottom of the fifth, finally cashing in with runners in scoring position. Not only did the Panthers get themselves back into the game, but they took the lead with a six-run fifth inning.
Hunter Palmer and Lane Richardson both hit RBI singles before freshman Jace Iske tied it with a two-RBI double to left. North Platte took the 6-4 lead after running two more across the plate on another West Platte fielding error with Dylan Armstrong and Grady Coons both putting the ball in play.
“This is a game of errors,” Faulkner said. “We teach this constantly: every error counts for about a run and a half. I said, ‘Look, we are not done in this ballgame and we will not quit, it’s all about you guys right now; it’s your team.’ They responded, and they did what they had to do.”
After escaping the fifth, West Platte had an emphatic answer of its own in the sixth. With two on and two out, Elms belted the fifth pitch of the at-bat to left field, and once Elms got sprinting out of the box, there was no stopping as he rounded the bases hoping for a triple, but ended with a three-RBI inside-the-park home run as the ball got lost in the dandelion grass of left field.
Suddenly, North Platte found itself trailing 7-6. Once again, the Panthers replied. A two-out triple from Ben Horsley was hit home by an RBI-double from Richardson to tie the game.
For the first time all night, conventional baseball played out in the seventh inning as both teams went down in order to force extra baseball level at 7-7.
West Platte junior Cuin Vincent scored three runs, going 3-for-4 at the plate against North Platte on April 16.
West Platte’s decisive moment came in the first, and only, extra inning. After Jhett Chandler reached with a hit by pitch to lead off, junior outfielder Cuin Vincent smacked the ball to right field for a double, moving Chandler to third base with nobody out.
“I was just trying to hit a ball hard,” Vincent said. “I was thinking line drive, stay on the ground. Shanked it, got on base. I thought ‘wow, that’s incredible.’”
Elms returned to the plate, scoring Chandler on a groundout for the go-ahead run. Masoner put the ball in play again as the Blue Jays capitalized on a defensive error for a two-run cushion. A single from Matthew Cook gave the visitors another insurance run before Dalton Burns moved Cook and himself up a base with a two-out single, opening the door for Conrad to add a fourth run of the inning with an RBI single before the Panthers got out of it.
“Our offense has always been pretty good,” said Vincent, who went 3-for-4 with three runs and a walk. “We’ve had a solid team. The coaches have been preaching that the older guys need to be teaching the younger guys what to do.”
After going 3 for 5 at the plate with a pair of RBIs, Masoner took to the mound hoping to seal the victory. Still, it wasn’t straightforward.
A sixth West Platte fielding error allowed the leadoff batter to reach safely before a groundout moved the lead runner into scoring position. A walk brought the game-tying run into the on-deck circle, from which Masoner induced a flyout after falling behind 3-0 in the count, and finally shut the door with a strikeout.
West Platte junior Blaze Masoner shut the door by pitching a scoreless 8th inning after going 3-for-5 at the plate with 2 RBIs.
“It’s not about wins and losses,” Faulkner said. “It’s about making sure these guys have a lifelong list of memories, and this is another one to add to the list.”