WELLSVILLE — Iola High’s baseball program ran into a pair of left-handed pitching buzz saws Tuesday.
Host Wellsville’s Shamus Kearney and Luke Meyer kept the Mustangs at bay for both games of their doubleheader.
Meyer was particularly nasty, throwing a seven-inning no-hitter in a 4-0 victory.
Kearney, meanwhile, took the win in game 1, 6-1.
The losses drop Iola to 4-4 in Pioneer League action and 4-6 overall.
“We didn’t play very well, and they’re pitching is great,” Mustang head coach Mark Percy said.
Wellsville took a quick 2-0 lead against Iola starter Derrick Weir in game 1, taking advantage of a hit and two walks.
“Derrick struggled with his control early, but didn’t do a bad job,” Percy said. “He gave up only a couple of hits.”
Weir allowed one more run in the second before pitching a scoreless third.
Weir allowed two hits and three walks in his three innings of work.
Trent Latta led off the third with a walk for Iola before coming around to score on Ethan Scheibmeir’s RBI ground ball.
Iola had only two hits after that. Latta’s two-out single in the fifth, and Weir’s leadoff double in the sixth.
The Mustangs missed out on a scoring chance in the second, when Coleson Wiggin and Caleb Alexander singled, but both were stranded in scoring position.
Latta wound up with two singles, Weir a double, and Scheibmeir, Wiggin and Alexander with one single apiece.
Weir struck out three on the mound. Drew Faulhaber pitched two innings, giving up a hit and three walks. Thealvin Minor struck out two in his inning of work.
LATTA PITCHED the whole way for Iola in game 2, surrendering five hits, but two were home runs by Meyer.
“Trent did a pretty good job, and we had our chances on offense,” Percy said. “We put guys on base, but we couldn’t get any hits.”
The Mustangs worked Meyer for six walks, and another reached base after getting hit by a pitch.
An error led to two unearned Wellsville runs in the fourth. Meyer’s blasts came in the second and sixth innings.
Latta struck out 10 Wellsville batters.
IN SOFTBALL action, the Fillies dropped scores of 17-2 and 16-1. Statistics were unavailable by press time.
In junior varsity action, Iola’s softball team won 10-4 and lost 7-6.
In the 10-4 win, Iola’s Emily McKarnin had two singles, while Taylor Sell and Brecken Collins singled once each. Stats from the second game for Iola were unavailable.
IOLA’S varsity squads will be in Humboldt for a pair of games Friday.
The Fillies will compete in the Lindsey Friederich Tournament and take on Neodesha at about 1:30 p.m. before playing host Humboldt at 3:15 in the round-robin competition.
The Mustangs will place Lamar, Mo., at about noon in the Walter Johnson Tournament before facing either host Humboldt or Neodesha in the final round.
