PITTSBURG — First it was ineffective pitching and defensive errors then it was ineffective hitting and defensive errors leading to a double loss for Iola High’s Mustangs.
There was no margin for error in any phase of the game when the Mustangs faced the undefeated Pittsburg High Purple Dragons Tuesday. The Dragons won 12-5 and 4-2 to stand atop of the Southeast Kansas League.
“We hit the ball pretty well in the first game — 10 hits; that’s not bad against a good team like Pittsburg,” said Mark Percy, Mustang head coach.
“But our pitchers left pitches up in the strike zone and Pittsburg hit us. We also had four or five errors behind our pitchers.”
Iola took a 2-0 lead in the first game. Levi Ashmore led off the game with a triple and scored on a single by Ryan Latta. Latta scored on an RBI single by Chris Heffern.
Pittsburg tied the game in the second then charged ahead. Iola got three more runs in the sixth.
Connor Frazell pitched five innings, surrendering 10 runs on nine hits and two walks. Clint Heffern pitched one inning and allowed two runs on three hits and one walk.
Ryan Latta had three singles. Ashmore tripled and singled and Frazell had a triple. Chris Heffern, Jerrik Sigg, Clint Heffern and Mason Coons each had a single.
It was 3-0 after five innings in the second game. Sigg was pitching for Iola in the second game.
The Mustangs scored two runs in the top of the sixth. Braden Larson drew a walk and moved around to score on a Ryan Latta single. Frazell’s sacrifice fly to right brought in Ashomore.
Pittsburg scored a run in the sixth for the final margin.
“Jerrik pitched well enough to win. We didn’t hit the ball and we had errors defensively,” Percy said.
Ryan Latta had two singles. Ashmore, Chris Heffern and Sigg each had a base hit.
The Mustangs are 5-7 in SEK play and overall. They step out of league play to host Neodesha Friday.
Mustangs lose to Dragons
