Eagles rally in doubleheader against Pirates

by Bill Althaus, Grain Valley News

What started out as a painful start to a Suburban White Conference doubleheader against visiting Platte County, had a fairy tale ending as the Grain Valley Eagles used a strong start from John Malicoat and a seven-run first inning to wipe aside memories of a 7-3 first-game loss as they crushed the Pirates 13-2 in the second game.

The Pirates exploded for seven runs in the fourth inning of the first game.

Driskell, who was coaching third base, was hit in his left knee by a wicked line drive off Malicoat's bat. He limped off the field under his own power, but needed an assistant to take his place on the field in the second game.

Moments after the game ended, Driskell's daughter Bailey rushed to the dugout to see how her dad was feeling.

"I'll tell you what," said Driskell, managing a grin, "Bailey is a lot tougher than I am."

He rolled up the left leg of his uniform to display a black-and-blue bruise that was the size of a grapefruit.

"I'll be honest with you, it really hurts. But I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying for the second game."

He then received a big hug from his daughter. He then told her, "That makes me feel better."

So did that 13-2 win in Game 2, as Malicoat allowed just one run and six hits in his five-inning stint. 

"John got the win and pitched well," Driskell said. "I was impressed with our ability to throw strikes and get outs."

He then addressed the importance of those two seven-run innings.

"Both teams gave up seven spots in each game," Driskell said, "Which kind of takes you out of the game once that happens. Seeing an opponent score seven runs in an inning puts your team in a tough place."

While Driskell had hoped for a sweep, he was thrilled with the Eagles performance in Game 2.

"Getting a split against a good team was a good result," he said. "If we can find a way to play 'simple,' we can be a very hard team to play against going into the postseason.

"We have been swinging it well as of late and I'm proud of what we've done as a group. 

"We have not played poorly as a group for several weeks. But, just like any team, we have moments that are not very good. We made a week's worth of errors (in the Pirates' seven-run fourth inning) and no runs turned into seven runs very quickly.

"It stinks, but it's going to happen if you are around baseball long enough."

The Pirates walked six Eagles in that big first inning. Hunter Nally and Carson Lundquist had RBI singles and Aaron Barr and Kaden Crandall walked with the bases loaded.

Logan Bennett led the Eagles offense with with a triple and three RBIs and Bryce Meyer added three hits and scored three runs.

Grain Valley led 1-0 with a first-inning run, but Platte County took advantage of three Eagle errors to score seven unearned runs. 

Nally had three hits and an RBI in the first game.

The Eagles are 15-9-1 overall and 6-3 in the conference action.

Bailey Driskell, the daughter of Grain Valley baseball coach Brian Driskell, checks on her dad in the dugout after he took a wicked line drive off his left knee in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 7-3 loss to visiting Platte County earlier this week. John Malicoat hit the line drive, but found a great way to apologize to his coach as he allowed just one run in five innings of a 13-2 victory over the Pirates in the second game of the doubleheader. Photo credit: Bill Althaus

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