By MATT PIKE
The West Platte offense struggled to figure out Dragons starting pitcher Harry Archer and the Mid-Buchanan defense, as Archer held the Blue Jays to three hits throwing 77 pitches in a 2-0 shutout win.
Archer also helped himself at the plate in the win. In the second inning, as the Dragons first run came on a ground out to short stop, scoring Mason Partridge after his leadoff double. Partridge advanced to third on a balk by Blue Jays pitcher Mathew Cook. Mid-Buchanan added the second run in the third inning after back-to-back singles by Raife Smith and Krayton House. Smith and House advanced a base on the throw from left field, and then Smith scored one batter later on a fielders choice as House was thrown out advancing to third, on a hit by Mason Grace.
Following the game Archer says he feels great, and that overall he felt efficient on the mound.
"Just first pitch strike, tried to get ahead of the count, and it worked in my favor and we got it going," Archer told reporters.
The Dragons slowed down a West Platte team that, up to this game, had not lost a conference matchup, and had been resilient in scoring runs to avoid losses. Archer says it feels great to contain a good competitive team like the Blue Jays.
"It gives us a lot of motivation and determination to keep getting better," Archer says.
Archer pitched all seven innings and gave up three hits, striking out three and walking one for Mid-Buchanan. At the plate for the Dragons, five hitters had one hit each in the pitchers duel, as Partridge and Smith were each 1-for-3 with a run. For West Platte, Cook pitched six innings and gave up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts. At the plate, Cuin Vincent led the way going 2-for-3. Jaxon Davis had the only other hit, going 1-for-2 with a walk.
A win like this can be a huge confidence booster for Mid-Buchanan heading into matchups with North Platte and Lathrop later this week, wins that could clinch a conference title, a goal head coach Bryce Kemper has his teams mind on.
"Like I told the guys afterwards, last year we shared the conference, let's try to win it outright this time and that's what we're going to try to do," Kemper says. "So we're going to go out there and give it everything we got, and see what we've got on Thursday."
With a win against the Panthers on Thursday, the Dragons will clinch at least a share of the KCI Conference title, a win against the Mules on Friday would clinch the title outright. First pitch in Dearborn on Thursday is at 4:30pm.
West Platte will travel to Lathrop on Thursday. The Blue Jays have also have a matchup hosting Dekalb on Monday for their next two games. First pitch on Thursday is at 4:30pm
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