What was a consistent scoring effort in a game one victory turned into a challenge at the plate in game two for the Iola High baseball team at home against Heritage Christian Tuesday.
The Mustangs split with the Chargers by winning game one, 5-0. Korbin Cloud was the man of the hour, driving the first two runs of the game before throwing a complete game shutout. Iola struggled to find runs in the 2-1 loss in game two.
Game one
Cloud smacked a two-run home run to put Iola ahead early, 2-0. Landon Weide reached base to lead off the bottom of the first accounting for the second run on Cloud’s shot.
The Mustangs held Heritage Christian scoreless. Cloud allowed only four hits while striking out six.
“He’s (Korbin) finally getting into his groove. We knew there was more in there after his first few starts,” Iola head coach Levi Ashmore said. “These last two starts have been phenomenal. He’s been getting ahead of guys, thrown lots of strikes and been able to go to his off-speed. Guys are competing behind him and he’s allowing himself to go deeper.”
Cloud, a junior, plated one more run in the bottom of the fifth.
Grady Dougherty got in on the fun in the sixth inning and slammed a two-run home run to left field for the 5-0 advantage.
“We thought Grady played tremendous defensively today,” said Ashmore. “We’ve had that rotation on the right side of the field. We feel like Grady really solidified himself today. Defensively, he did some awesome stuff and then the home run was awesome. You’ve got to pull for a kid like Grady who works his butt off. He was pretty pumped up when he hit that.”
Heritage Christian’s Jason Schnuelle started on the mound and went all six innings, allowing five runs on six hits with four walks. He also struck out five Mustangs while serving up two homers in the loss.
Game two
What turned into a dominant pitching duel ended up favoring Heritage Christian’s arms in the end of a 2-1 loss for Iola.
Mac Leonard started on the mound for the Mustangs and lasted five innings, giving up two runs on four hits. The two runs from the Chargers came in the top of the fifth inning, his final inning.
Heritage scored on a Braden Bivens RBI double and a Luke Briley steal of home for the 2-0 lead.
“They’re mad and upset and I like that because it means they’re competitors and want to win,” said Ashmore of the loss. “If they bring the energy and focus they brought in the sixth and seventh innings to the whole game, we’re fine. We waited around until we wanted to do anything.”
