Platte Valley baseball starts the season with a win

Sophomore Lane Acklin rounds third as he scores a run during the third inning.

By Morgan Guyer

The Platte Valley baseball team started its season March 21 on a high note by defeating the North Platte Panthers, 13-12.

After a slow start, Platte Valley used an 11-run 3rd inning to help break the game open. Sophomore Lane Acklin helped start things off with a single, as Platte Valley went well through the batting order en route to taking an 11-3 lead. Platte Valley Coach Zach Dyer was happy with the inning following the slow start.

“We were just being a little more patient at the plate and finding our pitches,” Dyer said. “I think we were a little aggressive. We wanted to get a lot of hits to start, but I think we just needed to be a little bit patient.”

The Panthers wouldn’t go away quietly, however, as they added seven runs in the 5th inning to cut the lead to 12-11. Platte Valley would add one more run in the 6th for some breathing room. Freshman Tucker Klamm pitched the final three innings for Platte Valley, giving up just two runs in the final two while finishing with four strikeouts.

“We need to be able to throw strikes in situations,” Dyer said. “I threw a freshman for three innings, and after a while, he kind of got the hang of it and started to throw some strikes.”

Junior Matt Jermain led the way in hitting, going 2-4 at the plate with a single, a double and three RBIs. Jermain was happy to get the opening season victory, but still sees some room for improvement.

“I would say fielding and situational stuff. We got hurt a couple times there,” Jermain said. “Other than that I think we played pretty solid. I think we can do pretty good this season if we play at that level.”

Sophomore Brandon McQueen was 2-4 from the plate as well, getting two singles and driving in two runs. Dyer is overall happy to open the season with a victory.

“It’s nice to get the first win out of the way. We were missing a couple of people we usually have with us,” Dyer said. “It was a good experience to have for those younger players to jump in and play.”