51ºÚÁÏ

But as the Vianney senior third baseman looked back on his four-year career, he had a simple proclamation after the Griffins settled for a Class 5 runner-up finish with a 14-4 loss to Platte County in the Class 5 baseball state championship. 

The game was called after five innings by run rule.

"We knew it would be a grind and all of us seniors knew it would be our last chance," Jozwiakowski said. "Happy it happened, not how we wanted it to happen, but I don't regret any of it."

Vianney (38-2) was in the state championship game for the first time since 2018 and was searching for its fourth title in program history to go with 2004, 2006 and 2018. 

Vianney's loss meant no 51ºÚÁÏ area school won a Missouri baseball state title for the second time in four seasons to go along with 2022.

It was the fourth inning that spelled the Griffins' doom. 

With Vianney leading 4-2, Platte County's offense unleashed wave after wave of devastation in the fourth inning. 

Platte County (29-8) scored 10 runs on five hits and took advantage of two errors to storm in front 12-4. The Pirates sent 16 batters to the plate and forced the Griffins to burn through four different pitchers and expend 63 pitches.

"It was a tough day to have a tough day," Vianney coach Dave Stewart said. "It happens in baseball, just bad it happened today."

By the time the rampaging Pirates were finished, Jozwiakowski and his teammates tried to reignite the fire that got them to the state final.

But, like the Vianney faithful that made the four-hour trek, the Griffins were stunned by the devastation unleashed by Platte County's offense. 

"We did our best to stay up in the dugout, but it was hard," Jozwiakowski said. "Stunned. That's a good word. It felt different."

Vianney attempted to reignite the machine that made it one of the most feared offenses in the state, but the momentum had shifted entirely to Platte County's dugout.  

"There's no way I'm going to say they didn't earn it, because they absolutely did," Stewart said. "All the credit goes to Platte County. On the flip side, we didn't execute on the mound. We weren't executing like we normally do. We weren't hitting the spots and left a lot of balls up, and to their credit, they took advantage of it."

Platte County coach John Sipes just wanted to "win the inning." When the offense got going, he started thinking five runs would be a good inning.

The 10 runs were unfathomable to the Pirates' coach.

"Our boys just got in a groove and kept going with it," Sipes said. "It was fantastic. Our approach has been this all year: next guy up, pass the buck. Do your job and let the next guy do your job."

According to the Missouri State High School Activities Association, the 10 runs are tied for the fifth-most runs scored in an inning in a state championship game. St. Dominic holds the record for most runs scored in a single inning with 19 in the 2008 Class 3 championship. 

The Pirates added to the state championship they won in 2022.

"The whole talk has been Vianney, Vianney, 38-1, but we play some good baseball on the west side of the state, too," Sipes said. "I think it's a testament to our boys, the focus we had and the drive we had to be champions today."

Platte County senior Dayton Doll drove in five, while seniors Bronson Ryan and Brock Fowler accounted for two RBI each. 

Vianney had its chances to blow open the game early.

The Griffins had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the top half of the first inning and looked poised for a big inning but settled for only two runs. 

In the top half of the fourth, the Griffins had runners in scoring position with less than two outs again and only scratched across a single run to push the lead to 4-2.

Then Platte County's fourth inning happened.

"There were a few innings later where we could have put up more and we only got one," Stewart said. "Baseball is a game of momentum. It's a game of scoring and shutting them down immediately and we didn't do a good job of that today."

Despite the loss, Stewart was supremely proud of his first four-year class since taking over the program before the 2021 season.

"I came in with them," Stewart said. "Everyone will talk about the talent they have, but more importantly to me was their character — just ridiculously good teammates. So many of them are on the honor roll, so many of them have won service awards, are on the dean's list. All the good stuff. Just a solid group of kids off the field, that's what I'm most proud of."