HUMBOLDT — Baseball pitchers aren’t especially fond of waiting too long between innings.
That’s because joints tend to stiffen up if a pitcher has to sit for extended periods.
This could have been the case Thursday for Iola High’s hurlers Nathan Louk and Jarrett Herrmann, who had to head to the bullpen for throwing sessions on multiple occasions while Iola’s batters forced a number of extended innings against visiting Neodesha.
“We’ll have them throw just so they can stay loose,” Iola head coach Ryan Latta explained. “It’s definitely not a bad thing.”
Both pitchers shined, while Iola’s batters pummeled the beleaguered Neodesha pitching staff, to the tune of 13-0 and 14-1 victories.
The wins took place at the Humboldt Sports Complex because Iola’s fields remained too wet from rainy weather earlier in the week.
“It was good to get these games in,” Latta said. “These were two good team wins.”
The key was Iola’s aggressiveness when necessary at the plate, but patient enough to force Neodesha pitchers to throw strikes.
A six-run first inning to start the doubleheader set the tone.
After a hit batter and error with one out led to an RBI grounder from Dillon Bycroft before Brandon McKarnin, Herrmann and TJ Taylor each added run-scoring singles. Eli Smith then blasted a 1-0 pitch for a two-run double to cap the inning.
Louk singled to start the second and scored on McKarnin’s sacrifice fly to make it 7-0.
The floodgates opened in the bottom of the third. Taylor and Smith walked to start the inning, and Curry was hit by a pitch to load the bases. An error allowed Louk to score before Bradyn Cole smashed a two-run double to make it 10-0.
Bycroft’s base hit plated pinch runner Dillon Slaven and Ryker Curry.
Curry’s sac fly in the fourth pushed the spread to 13.
Louk had no worries about the long idle periods in throwing the five-inning shutout. He scattered three hits and struck out eight.
“The guys came out ready to go, and put pressure on them to start,” Latta said. “We pretty much know what we’ll get with Louk. He’s going to pound the zone, get his offspeed over, throw his fastball for strikes and get ahead in the count, which is huge. It keeps our defense on its toes.”
