Iola American Legion Post 15’s A Indians were behind the eight ball early Tuesday as the host of the 2011 Kansas American Legion A Zone 3 tournament.
Actually, it was more like a nine ball. Iola had posted a 2-0 lead after one inning against second-seeded Cherokee. Cherokee took advantage of three Iola errors to score nine runs in the bottom of the second inning.
The Indians were behind 10-4 heading into the fourth inning. Rally time.
Tyler Clubine slid into third base with a lead-off triple for Iola and scored on a balk. With one gone, Isaiah Grover started things again with a single and Garrett Catron reached on an error.
Drew Faulhaber drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Trent Latta walked in a run. Iola starting pitcher Aaron Barclay helped himself out with a bases-loaded, two-run single. Derrick Weir doubled in a run and Clubine singled.
When the dust settled, Iola had an 11-10 lead. Iola produced an insurance run, which it needed, in the fifth inning. Cherokee mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh, scoring one run.
Latta came on in relief of Barclay. Latta retired three straight Cherokee batters, two by strikeouts, for the save. Barclay got the win, going six innings and allowing 11 runs on eight hits, five walks and one hit batter. He struck out five.
Top-seeded Baldwin was knocked out of the tournament Tuesday. It lost 13-2 to Emporia then Cherokee won the losers bracket game, 2-1, Tuesday night.
Iola takes on Emporia at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at ACCC. The winner moves to the championship game and the loser drops down to play Cherokee at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The zone championship game is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Thursday. The zone champion advances to the Kansas American Legion A State Tournament in Salina next week.
For Iola’s offense against Cherokee Tuesday, Clubine had a triple and a single. Faulhaber and Weir each doubled.
Hitting a single each were Barclay, Trey Wilson, Grover and Catron.
Iola A rallies to win zone opener
