OSAWATOMIE — Pitching and timely hitting propelled the Iola High baseball team past Osawatomie in a couple of road games Tuesday.
The Mustangs (10-1) got behind the arms of Korbin Cloud in game one and Mac Leonard in game two and scored in every single inning of a game two 11-0 run-rule victory. Iola came around with timely hitting from the top of their lineup in a 7-1 game one win.
Game one
Iola struck early in game one in the top of the first when Landon Weide came across for a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs didn’t attack offensively again until the fifth inning when they tacked on four runs. The fifth inning scoring began with a Cloud RBI single to center for the 2-0 lead.
Then later in the fifth inning, Jarrett Herrmann roped an RBI single to left field for the 3-0 advantage. Tre Wilson then cracked a two-run double to right field for the 5-0 lead.
“We competed at the plate, ran the bases well and were able to score some runs,” said Iola head coach Levi Ashmore. “That swing Tre had in the first game was awesome. With him, it’s getting him to use the whole field, not just turn and burn on everything.”
The Mustangs were able to get on Osawatomie starting pitcher Cooper Peterson who worked six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and striking out seven. Troy Mosley and Aidan Gould each relieved Peterson out of the bullpen and combined for one inning of work.
Cloud seemed unpenetrable on the mound for the Mustangs, allowing only two hits and one run through seven innings. He struck out 12 Trojan batters and walked two. The lone run scored on Cloud was a Kaiden Gravatt sixth inning RBI.
“He (Cloud) gave himself a chance to go a complete game,” said Ashmore. “He kept his pitch count down, got ahead of guys and went right after them. Tonight, he was getting ahead with his fastball, going offspeed and kept it in the zone and got some swings on it.”
At the plate, Iola tallied 11 hits and were led by Weide and Cloud’s three hits apiece while Carter Hutton and Herrmann each had two hits. Cloud, Herrmann and Wilson each drove in a team-high two runs while Weide scored a team-high three runs.
Game two
The second game of the afternoon was a much more lopsided affair. Iola scored in every inning and Leonard allowed only two hits in an 11-0 five inning victory.
Brandon McKarnin smacked an RBI single to right field for the 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Leonard then ripped a two-run double down the right field line to make it a 3-0 Iola lead in the first. The Mustangs pushed across two runs in each of the next four innings.
“We just want to put the best nine guys out there. It’s a team game within an individual game,” Ashmore said. “All nine guys have to do their job and all nine guys have to take care of their business. When all of those guys know what their roles are it makes it a lot easier and I think we’re doing that well.”
In the second inning, Cloud laced an RBI single to left field for the 4-0 advantage. Wilson then sent an RBI single to the shortstop for the 5-0 Mustang lead in the second.
