On a wild pitch, Drew Walden darted home from third base. When Walden stepped on home plate and the umpire called “game,” it had been just 53 minutes since the first pitch of the game.
Iola American Legion Post 15’s AA Indians overpowered visiting Paola 10-0 in four innings in the first of two games Thursday. Jerrik Sigg faced 15 batters as Iola’s winning pitcher.
Sigg allowed two hits, hit one batter and struck out three. The Indians used six of their 11 hits to score five runs in the second to go up 6-1. They added four runs on two hits and two Paola errors in the fourth.
Ryan Latta singled and tripled for Iola. Levi Ashmore and Walden each had two singles. Sigg, Clint Heffern and Mason Coons hit a double apiece. Corey Taylor singled.
Iola and Paola switched from aluminum bats to wooden bats for the second game. Iola posted a 4-1 win with six hits in the game.
Taylor was the winning pitcher in the second game. He worked four scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking two batters and hitting one batter. Taylor struck out two batters.
Coons pitched three innings and was charged with one run, which came in the sixth. He gave up three hits and struck out three.
A few defensive plays early prevented Paola from scoring runs. A pitch got away from Iola catcher Austin Knoblock but he was able to hustle after it and make a throw to Taylor. Taylor tagged out the Paola runner trying to score at the plate.
In the second inning, Iola third baseman Ryan Latta caught a line drive and doubled off a runner at third. And in the fourth, a fly ball to left field was caught by Ethan Ericson, who threw behind the Paola runner for a double play at second base.
The Indians scored twice in the fourth with two gone. Taylor drew a walk. Walden tripled to drive in a run and scored on an error.
After Paola scored in the top of the sixth, Iola answered with two runs in its half of the inning. Ashmore reached on an error and with one out, Sigg walked. Taylor and Walden had back-to-back RBI singles.
Other hits in the game for Iola were singles by Ryan Latta, Heffern and Coons.
The sweep allowed the AA Indians to reach 20 wins this summer. Iola takes a 20-3 record into this weekend’s tournament at Chanute.
Iola AA Indians roll past Paola
