The Iola High baseball team hit their way to victory over Burlington on Tuesday night.
The Mustangs (3-0) attacked at the plate and hit three homers while the pitching was efficient enough to secure 17-8 and 8-4 victories. Landon Weide and Ben Kerr each hit home runs in the opening game before Tre Wilson smashed an inside-the-park homer in game two.
Game one
The Mustangs took a 2-run deficit heading into the bottom of the first inning as a challenge to overcome. And boy, did they. Iola responded with 10 runs across home plate.
“Knowing that your team is capable of battling back, it’s a good feeling. Any time we’re having meaningful at bats and making meaningful plays it prepares us well,” said Iola head coach Levi Ashmore. “I liked that they got out early. I want our guys to be able to handle adversity.”
“We can’t control who’s in the other dugout but we can control how we play,” Ashmore added.
Brandon McKarnin got the start on the mound for Iola and served up a two-run homer to Trenton Davidson in the first inning for the early 2-0 deficit.
McKarnin, a senior, immediately redeemed himself at the plate when he smacked a two-run double to right field to knot the game at 2-2. Landon Weide then rocketed his home run down the left field line for a couple more runs and the quick 4-2 advantage.
Iola’s Korbin Cloud put the finishing touches on the first inning when he smashed a two-run double to right field for a 12-2 lead heading to the second inning.
“We have a bunch of competitive kids who know how to play the game,” said Ashmore. “My message to them is always just to have competitive at bats, swing at good pitches, hand the bat to the next guy and put some pressure on them on the bases.”
Burlington brought the game within four runs in the top of the fourth inning after Landen Ernst drove in four runs to make it a 12-8 ballgame. The Mustangs didn’t wait long to widen the margin again when they plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth for a 14-8 lead.
The runs came on a Carter Hutton RBI single to first base before Kerr whacked a two-run homer in the sixth and Wilson ripped an RBI double to center in the sixth as well.
The Mustangs tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the sixth to claim a 17-8 victory.
Weide, McKarnin and Kerr each drove in a team-high three runs for Iola while Wilson had four hits and McKarnin smacked three hits. Jarrett Herrmann, Weide and Wilson each scored a team-high three runs.
McKarnin lasted two innings on the mound, allowing two runs on two hits and striking out four Burlington batters. Grady Dougherty came on in relief in the third inning and allowed six runs on three hits before Mac Leonard pitched a scoreless final two innings.
