TOPEKA — Iola’s Senior and Junior American Legion baseball teams hit the ground running over the weekend.
Both opened their 2024 seasons at the JC Lunceford Tournament held at the Bettis Family Sports Complex in Topeka.
The Senior Legion squad, in the 19-and-under division, went 4-2, dropping a 6-1 decision to the Topeka Stogies in the championship game.
The Junior Legion team, in the 17-and-under group, went 1-3 in a series of nail-biters. All three losses were by a single run, and all three ended in walk-off fashion.
Senior Legion
The Post 15 Senior Legion squad — consisting of standouts from Iola, Humboldt and Crest schools, including two — Avery Blaufuss and Brandon McKarnin — who are 2023 high school graduates, opened on a high note.
Iola thumped the Stogies, 9-4, keyed by a five-run first inning. The Topeka squad closed the gap to 5-3 but the Indians put the game away with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third.
Korbin Cloud, Kyler Isbell and McKarnin combined to throw a five-inning no-hitter. Cloud pitched the first 2.2 innings, striking out three. Isbell struck out one over 1.1 innings. McKarnin pitched a hitless inning as well.
Cloud also keyed Iola’s offense with a pair of singles and a double. Tre Wilson and Ellis each singled and doubled. Logan Page added a double, while Grady Dougherty and Cole Mathes both had singles.
Next up was a 4-3 loss to Kansas City Silver in walk-off fashion.
Blake Ellis had knocked a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth to give Iola a 3-2 lead, but an RBI triple and single allowed KC Silver to complete the comeback.
Page pitched two hitless innings to start, striking out three, before Dougherty came on in relief, striking out five over 3.2 innings, and scattering three hits.
Rogan Weir had a pair of singles to pace the offense, while Cloud, McKarnin, Dougherty, Page and Brody Gunderman all had singles.
The Indians got back into the swing of things on Saturday with a 10-1 romp over the Lee’s Summit Post 189 Outlaws. Iola scored early and often, plating three runs in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
That was more than enough for Gavin Jones, who allowed one hit over four innings of work with a pair of strikeouts. Rogan Weir tacked on two innings of one-hit relief work, striking out two.
