Mid-Buchanan High School baseball conquers West Platte; District Champions for the second time in three years

(LATHROP, MO) - In a rematch of the Class 3 District 16 Championship from last season, the Mid-Buchanan and West Platte High School baseball teams squared off with the season on the line.

West Platte won this game last season and now it would be Mid-Buchanan getting redemption in a 9-2 victory. It's the second district title for the Dragons in the last three seasons.

Mid-Buchanan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a 2 RBI single from senior Nolan McGarry. Another senior, Mason Grace, added two more runs in the bottom of the third on an RBI single to make it 4-0 at that point. Grace later added a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth.

Grace finished 2-for-3 at the plate with 3 RBI, McGarry finished 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and senior Raife Smith finished 2-for-2 with 1 RBI.

Mid-Buchanan senior Harry Archer with another solid performance on the mound, Archer pitched the full 7 innings with 5 strikeouts while giving up 7 hits but only 2 runs.

For West Platte, senior Jaxon Davis finished 2-for-3 with 1 RBI.

"It's just a team effort. Everyone on our team, we put in one hundred percent effort," said Grace. "We came here locked in on the bus ready to go. It helped, everyone was in it."

"It means a little bit more when you become a senior, you realize that your games are limited, and now it's just win or go home," said McGarry. "The juniors really understood that for us and I felt like they did a good job of walking in and doing their job."

"Coming in to this game we knew that (West Platte) had some guys at the top of their order that could hit. Harry (Archer) did a really good job. He had those first two guys in that first inning get behind him and then he barreled down and finished the job. The guys made some huge plays out there and Mason (Grace's) home run put it away at that point."

Mid-Buchanan improves to 21-7 on the season and will now host Carrollton in Faucett for the Class 3 State Quarterfinal round on Tuesday, May 26th. Time TBD.

West Platte's year ends in a 19-5 record.