It turned out to be a scoring barrage for the Iola High baseball team when they took down Anderson County in a pair of home games Tuesday.
Iola (8-1) held the lead throughout both games. The Mustangs had a 6-4 victory in game one and then laid it on the Bulldogs with sound pitching and defense for the 15-0 run-rule drubbing in game two
Game one
Korbin Cloud got the nod to start on the mound for Iola and immediately made a difference. The hurler sat down nine of the first 11 Bulldogs and worked into the seventh inning while striking out nine.
Cloud also helped out at the plate where he smacked a two-run double past the center fielder and plated a pair of runs for the early 2-0 lead in the second inning. Tre Wilson then lifted an RBI single to left field to bring home another run and make it 3-0 in the second.
“If Landon (Weide) can get on base we’re rolling. We have three of the best hitters probably in the state coming up after him and you can feel pretty good about it,” Iola head coach Levi Ashmore said. “I think Landon was on base eight-of-eight times today.”
Anderson County plated two runs in the top of the third inning and another run in each of the sixth and seventh innings. Garrison Martin and Braxton Spencer reached base in the third and scored to bring the score to 3-2.
The trio of Mustang hitters, Wilson, Jarrett Herrmann and Brandon McKarnin, each shined at the plate.
Wilson knocked an RBI single to shortstop for a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Herrmann then sent a sacrifice fly deep enough to score Cloud for the 5-2 lead in the fourth.
Colten Wittman scored in the sixth before Braden Blaufuss scored the fourth and final run in the seventh for Anderson County to bring the score within two runs, 6-4. That’s when Cloud was pulled off the mound and Herrmann made the final two outs for the 6-4 victory.
“I still don’t think we’ve got the best from Korbin yet,” said Ashmore.
“Mac (Leonard) did a great job coming in relief,” said Ashmore. “It’s a testament to Mac and what he can do when he’s in the zone.”
Wilson led Iola at the plate with three hits and two RBIs. Cloud had two hits and two RBIs. On the mound, Cloud allowed four runs and seven hits through 6.1 frames with nine strikeouts and three walks.
Game two
Iola’s dominance prevented the second game from being much of a contest.
