Friday’s dreary weather only compounded Iola High School’s frustration of losing to Emporia, 12-2.
On the bright side, the evening was dubbed Iola Youth Night in celebration of longtime baseball fan Virginia Latta. Those age 13 and younger were welcomed with hot dogs and hamburgers and rubbed shoulders with some of the Mustang players.
The Mustangs (11-3) got behind early by three runs in the first inning and could never recover in the 12-2 defeat.
Brandon McKarnin started on the mound for Iola and lasted into the fourth inning, being pulled out after an Emporia three-run homer made it a 7-0 game. Emporia plated three runs in the first inning, one run in the third and three more runs in the fourth.
It was a very uncharacteristic start for McKarnin, a senior, who has proved himself as one of the Mustangs’ most reliable pitchers. Mc-Karnin allowed seven runs and 11 Spartans to reach base.
Max Rusco singled home a couple of runs for Emporia in the top of the first before Bobby Trujillo ripped an RBI single which scored Rusco for Emporia’s 3-0 lead. 
Drew Hess then scored on a dropped third strike overthrow in the third inning to help his Emporia squad take a 4-0 lead.
Emporia’s Owen Ruge belted a three-run homer to left field in the top of the fourth inning for the 7-0 advantage.
Iola’s Gavin Jones was then called in to pitch and sat down the next two batters to end the top of the fourth inning. Jones pitched into the seventh inning when Carter Hutton relieved him and recorded the final outs to head to the bottom of the seventh.
Another Emporia run was scored on a single in the top of the fifth.
One of the lone bright spots for Iola followed off the bat of freshman Tre Wilson who blasted a solo home run to center field to cut into the deficit 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth.
Iola’s Brandon McKarnin roped an RBI double to left field to make it 8-2 in the bottom of the sixth.
Emporia’s Trujillo then rocketed a two-run homer to left field for the 10-2 lead in the top of the seventh. The Spartans weren’t done there as Aiden Skiles and Jalyn King each drove in one run to make it a 12-2 game heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Iola finished with five hits and was held hitless into the fifth inning. Wilson and McKarnin each had a team-high two hits while Cloud added another. The second game of the double-header was canceled due to weather.
The Mustangs are on the road at Wellsville on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
