The Iola AA Indians look to carry the momentum from their Zone 2 tournament sweep to the Kansas American Legion baseball tournament beginning Thursday in Concordia.
Iola dominated last weekend’s tournament. Across three games the Indians compiled a 27-3 score and three Iola pitchers threw complete game victories.
“The way we played Sunday, I hope we don’t change anything going into Thursday,” said Iola head coach Ethan Tavarez. “We’ve got the pitching and hitting. We’re planning on throwing them 45 pitches or less, spreading the arms out because we’ve got a lot of pitching.”
The Indians face Colby first on Thursday afternoon at 4 o’clock.
Tavarez relied on pitchers Logan Page, Trevor Church and Trey Sommer to carry the load at the zone tournament. All three will be available at state, but with so many arms on Iola’s roster the pressure will be off.
Sommer’s no-hitter against Chanute Post 170 on June 15 was a season highlight.
Other pitchers who have provided innings this season included Ashton Hesse, Brandon McKarnin, Jack White, Kaiden Barnett, Rogan Weir, Sam Hull and Tre Wilson.
The Indians have already faced some of the season’s toughest competition, including Lee’s Summit, Sedalia, Oak Grove and Pittsburg Post 64. Iola was able to split a couple of home matchups against Pittsburg, behind a Tre Wilson inside-the-park home run.
“After those games John (Taylor) was big on these guys understanding these are the teams we have to have good at bats and play good defense against,” said Tavarez. “If we play our game that will be huge and there’s some you want more than others.”
The runs have come in bunches for Iola this season with one of the most dangerous lineups in the state ready to attack at any time. Leading off this season has been Wilson, a breakout freshman catcher from Iola.
Sommer, McKarnin and Hull man the middle of the lineup while Weir, Logan Page and Barnett bring some needed power as well. The speed on the basepaths has fallen mainly to Wilson in the leadoff spot as well as Church.
“Our top hitter, we figure he’s going to get a hit,” said Tavarez. “Guys have the mentality to get on base so they can get driven in by other guys. When the hitters that aren’t hitting well do well in the lineup, I cheer for that a lot.”
Hull has come on late in the season as one of Iola’s most dependable power hitters, knocking three home runs this month. His first was a walk-off three-run blast to right center field.
He then ripped two more homers off Garnett in the zone championship game, a three-run homer in the fourth and a two-run home run in the fifth to seal a 9-0 victory.
The highlights of Iola’s season included winning the Kansas Senators Tournament in Topeka to open the season, sweeping Ottawa’s Post 60 Arrows, Chanute’s Post 64 as well as Garnett’s Post 48 Muddogs.
