When describing what makes the Iola Mustang baseball team a perennial powerhouse — the Mustangs will be aiming for their third consecutive Pioneer League title — Coach Levi Ashmore attributed it to a culture begun 20 years ago by Coach Mark Percy.

Although today’s Mustangs never played under Percy, his impact remains evident through a focus on perfection and passing lessons learned down to the younger generation.

“We’re fortunately in a place here in Iola, where baseball has been good for the past 10 or 15 years.

We’ve had a lot of great players come through,” Ashmore said. “Coach Percy was here from 2005 to 2020 and laid a great foundation for the program. I’ve been fortunate to step in and lead the program. We have a lot of good players today. The culture is good for Iola baseball.”

Returning most of their starting lineup from 2024, Ashmore said there is not much he plans to change this season. The Mustangs graduated starting pitchers Colton Cloud and Mac Leonard last spring, but Ashmore believes he has the arms to fill the void.

“Grady Dougherty and Gavin Jones gave us some good innings at the varsity level last year,” Ashmore said. “Gavin has been a Steady-Eddie for two years. Grady burst onto the scene last year and threw some really good non-conference games for us. He took down McPherson, which is a two-time defending 4A state champion.”

Ashmore also mentioned junior Easton Weseloh, who may not have the most varsity experience, but has a very high development ceiling and more than a few nasty pitches.

Sophomores Kale Pratt, Jase Herrmann, Austin Crooks and senior Trevor Tatman will each see time coming out of the bullpen.

“We have some guys we’re pretty excited about. We just have to see them with a hitter in the box and a different uniform on,” Ashmore said.

When it comes to hitting, Ashmore is also confident. Multiple hitters have a history of batting over .300 by season’s end and have already faced some of the best pitching in the state.

“Thankfully, we return a good group of hitters from last year. Trey Wilson has been awesome his first two years,” Ashmore said. “He returns as a junior who will hit the three-hole for us. Grady (Dougherty) plays first base and will hit in our four-hole. He’s very good and is going into his third year. Jase Hermann got his feet wet as a freshman. Lucas Maier played a lot. Nick Bauer played a lot. We have five or six guys in the lineup who have experience.”

While confident in his team, Ashmore wants to make sure his players do not become overconfident. As the returning Pioneer League champion, the name adorning their jerseys may as well be a target for up-and-coming teams looking to make names for themselves.

“It’s fun playing with a target on your back. There are high expectations,” Ashmore said. “You go out every day expecting to win every game you see on your schedule. You know you’re going to get everybody’s best shot, so that demands our best every single time we go out.”