The Mustang baseball team has an expectation problem.
Well, its less of a problem in the sense of something they need to work on and fix and more of a reality that they just need to get used to.
On Tuesday, Iola baseball won its third and fourth games at home over Prairie View by the score of 6-0 and 11-4.
Those wins moved them to 4-0 so far this season and while youd think that would be something to celebrate and it is this is a team thats kind of past that.
Were not where we want to be right now, head coach Mark Percy said. Which is tough to say when youre winning, but its true. But its OK because were still trying to figure stuff out. Its early.
Winning games like that over teams like Prairie View a solid team with some talent but not exactly a state contender just end up seeming pretty plain. Even if they had won by 10 runs, the focus will be on their mistakes with their eyes locked making themselves the best that they can be.
So senior ace Derek Bycroft can throw a two-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts be shrugged off in a sense.
It was good. Great for many, but for those in the dugout, good. Expected.
And where it gets tough is when things dont go according to plan. For the second straight series, junior Cal Leonard struggled on the mound in the middle innings.
On Tuesday, after two walks in game two, a Prairie View player got his bat on a fastball and sent it over the right-field fence.
Leonard ended his 4.1 innings with three runs on four hits and five walks with eight strikeouts. In high school, thats not a bad line at all, especially in just your second game of your junior season. But Leonard and the rest of the Mustangs have set their expectations higher than that.
I think Leonards got a sore shoulder thats been bugging him and maybe we need to play with his pitch count until he gets back to 100 percent, Percy said. Hes not in midseason form yet because its not midseason and hes thrown over 180 pitches combined in the two times hes been out. Hell be fine.
Juniors Zane Whitney and Brady Wiggin each homered in game one after not doing it in their previous three years. But that really wasnt the story after the game.
Iola ended game one with just seven hits and seemed to struggle at times to find the consistency that they want. It was the same way in game two. After exploding for six runs in the first, the Mustang offense lost its rhythm at the plate and turned what couldve been a three- or five-inning route into a full game. A full game where they won by seven runs.
These are the pressures that come with defending a state championship and returning nearly everyone from last season.
You celebrate guys like Zane Whitney who had two hits in game one and Bycroft, Noah Ashmore and Nathan Louk who had two hits in game two.
