FORT SCOTT The A Iola Indians offense was in cruise control until they reached the semi-final of the Adam LaRoche Baseball Tournament in Fort Scott on Sunday.
The Indians fell to the Cavaliers of Kansas City 0-2 on Sunday afternoon.
Prior to the semifinal, Iola won most of its games comfortably. On Friday, the first day of this three-day tournament, the Indians took on the Wichita Sluggers K Flax.
After trailing by two runs early, Iola took the lead in the bottom of the second inning through a Bradyn Cole RBI, putting the Indians up 3-2. Despite Wichita tying it up in the third inning, Iola pulled away in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of an RBI from Dillon Bycroft and a two-run RBI double from Drake Sellman. By the end of this one, it was 9-4 Indians.
Game 2 saw the Indians bats pop against those of another Wichita team. Iola scored 11 runs in the first two innings making it 11-1 after only two innings played. Not a single Indian failed to record a hit in the contest. Iola came away with the win 15-6 via run rule after five innings.
On Saturday, the Indians faced MB Baseball from Lawrence for a place in the semifinal. The Indians trailed by one until the bottom of the third, when Iola finally got going. A Brycroft sacrifice flew to center field to bring home Cole. Eli Smith then hammered one to left field scoring Dillon Slaven, making the score 2-1 Iola.
Ryker Curry was nearly perfect on the mound for Iola. The Indian pitcher recorded six strikeouts in six innings, while allowing only four hits and a walk. This game didnt even see a seventh inning as the Iola bats exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the sixth. Iola took the game 10-1 via run rule and a spot in the semifinal to be played on Sunday.
After scoring 34 runs in the first three games, Iola would fail to bring home a run across the plate in the Fathers Day game against the Cavaliers.
We faced a little better pitching, head coach Troy Smith said. Even then, we left the bases loaded I think twice, and we left runners on second and third base twice. In a two-to-nothing game, we left at least eight on base if not more. So one hit in either of those opportunities would have made for a very different game.
After his shutout performance last Saturday against Yates Center, Cole followed it up by striking out four batters and allowing only two runs. In relief was Nathan Louk, who kept the game within reach.
Ultimately, Iola couldnt find that clutch hit to bring home any runners. The Cavalier defense stood firm despite Iola getting runners on base in the final chance for the Indians. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Curry singled to bring the tying run to the plate, but Cooper Riley would unluckily ground out into a double play.
Even down to their last out, Iola kept fighting. Bycroft reached on a four-pitch walk and was replaced by pinch runner Trevor Church. Sellman shot the gap to center field for his second hit of the game to bring up Young and the go-ahead run at the plate. But it was too little too late as Young grounded out to second making the final score 0-2 in favor of the Cavaliers.
They brought it every inning, and Im really proud of them, Smith said. At the end here we are playing academy teams from the city and are picked from thousands of kids. Here we have 13 kids from Colony and Iola who played well, fought back and never quit. Bradyn starts a game after throwing up and goes out there giving up two runs in five innings.
The Indians have lost in the semifinals of a tournament in two consecutive weeks, but Smith isnt discouraged about his side going forward. Its just a matter of time.
Weve won a lot in the past and sometimes I think its just a break here or there, Smith said. This was really good competition up here in the semifinal and I was pretty happy. Last week we were better than we played in the final game and today couldnt get a hit when we needed one.
NEXT UP for the A Indians is a midweek doubleheader Wednesday away against Chanute.
