PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. – After a 1-2 start to the season with losses to two ranked foes in Class B, Plattsmouth baseball has rattled off six consecutive wins with a combination of timely hitting, sensational defense and nearly unhittable pitching. The result is the ascension to No. 3 in the Class C rankings ahead of a Thursday showdown with Class B No. 8 Beatrice.

Blue Devils skipper Jim Olsen said his team's bats have come alive as of late which has brought success.

“We played a couple of good games against those tough teams, and we didn’t hit well enough,” Olsen said. “And since then our hitting has come on and we’ve gotten on a little bit of a roll.”

The awakening of the sticks in a lineup that features eight players batting .316 or better has allowed Plattsmouth to play its brand of baseball. That means taking advantage of overall team speed and power.

“What we like to do is get really aggressive,” Olsen said. “If we can get that first guy on we can run, we can steal, we can hit-and-run and do all the things we like to do.”

Olsen named players such as Wichita State signee Drew Iverson, Gage Olsen and Gabe Villamonte as players who are hitting for more power this season.

Iverson is hitting .517 on the young season with 16 RBIs, four doubles, two triples and a homer. But its not just the offense that has helped the Blue Devils to be plus-70 in the run column.

The real story is the pitching.

Plattsmouth currently boasts a 1.48 team earned run average (ERA) and is holding its opponents to a .182 batting average through nine games. For context, the record for team ERA in a season is 1.20 set by Wahoo in 2018.

Gage Olsen (0.00 ERA) threw a no-hitter Tuesday in a win over South Sioux City. Villamonte (0.68 ERA) has struck out 18 batters and walked only two. He’s surrendered just four hits in 10.1 innings of work. And then there is Iverson. The tall left-hander has 27 strikeouts to lead the team in 16.2 innings.

Olsen says it's an advantage for his team to have such dominant pitching. His hurlers aren’t giving up many free passes and keep the defense engaged all game by being around the strike zone.

The Blue Devils (7-2) have struck out 68 batters and issued only 18 walks. Having command of the zone has been the key to allowing just 2.6 runs per game.

“Last week we had four games and in those four games we only walked three guys total,” Olsen said. “So that’s really where its at is having good control.”

For Thursday’s game against Beatrice, Olsen said his team needs to continue to pitch and defend well while adding some timely hits when there are runners on base. Something that was missing in losses to Omaha Gross and Wahoo.

The schedule continues to toughen with next week’s Trailblazer Conference tournament.

Plattsmouth hosts Platteview in the opening round and Olsen said there are five to six teams in the seven-team conference that could be ranked next week, citing Nebraska City’s win over No. 1 Skutt Tuesday.

Playing a tough schedule is “only going to help us” according to Olsen and playing in a challenging conference like the Trailblazer makes it all worth it. Especially if it means a run in the postseason late in the year.

“We beat each other up a little bit,” Olsen said of the league. “But it will help for postseason play.”

But for now, the tenth-year head coach isn’t looking that far ahead. Typical of a veteran ball coach.

“We’ve got a lot of baseball in front of us still,” Olsen said. “But so far we are doing OK.”