Iola High’s 2016 baseball season came to a soggy, dreary end Thursday, amid a light-but-steady rain and just enough miscues to keep the Mustangs on the short end of an 8-2 decision to Wichita’s Trinity Academy.
The defeat came in the semifinals of the Class 4A-II Regional Playoffs at Val McLean Field on the Allen Community College campus in Iola. Iola ends the season with a 13-6 record.
“I’ve coached a lot of years, and I can tell when the opponent is way better than us,” Mustang head coach Mark Percy said. “I don’t believe these guys were, but they were today. We just didn’t have it. We weren’t playing very well.”
The early goings seemed auspicious for Iola.
Freshman Derek Bycroft got the start, and zipped through the first two innings.
Meanwhile, Brett Taylor’s bunt single with one out in the top of the third led to Ethan Scheibmeir’s RBI triple two batters later.
Scheibmeir worked his way back from an 0-2 count before rifling a shot beyond the center fielder.
“Ethan’s been our best hitter,” Percy said. “Sometimes he swings at bad pitches, but he has a good swing and a good approach at the plate.
“It was nice to jump out to that lead.”
Bycroft’s follow-up infield single plated Scheibmeir, and Iola led 2-0.
The Mustangs didn’t lead for long.
Trinity responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning, on just two hits. The Knights were aided by an Iola error, a walk and three hit batters, two with the bases loaded.
“The weather may have had something to do with it, but they handled it,” Percy said. “They hit the ball better than we did. Our pitching was good in spots, but other times we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. And there were a few plays that could have been made, but weren’t. We just have to get a lot better in every phase of the game.”
Trinity tacked on another run with a two-out rally in the fourth against reliever Ben Cooper, with two hits and a walk.
Mitchell List’s two-run single in the fifth capped a three-run frame for the Knights to cap the scoring.
Trinity starter Quade Truby kept Iola’s hitters off balance the rest of the game. He struck out five Iola batters, all looking, while scattering five hits in his complete game victory. Perhaps most notably, he allowed no walks.
