Opening at home in Riverside Park, Iola High’s Mustangs gave their fans exactly what they wanted and expected — two victories.
The Mustangs began their 2012 baseball season with a two-game sweep of visiting Labette County High’s Grizzlies. Iola is 2-0 in Southeast Kansas League play and overall.
Iola travels to Coffeyville today in SEK action. The Mustangs go to Chanute for a league doubleheader Monday.
“I was pleased with how we played in our first doubleheader of the season. The guys came in with the right attitude and we did a lot of really good things in both games,” said Mark Percy, Mustang head coach.
“We good pitching. We walked just five in the two games but we need to work ahead of hitters. All of our pitchers were behind in counts. We threw as many arms in the games as we could just to get people some innings.”
The Mustangs posted a 9-0 win in Tuesday’s first game. Jerrik Sigg checked the Grizzlies to one hit in his five innings of work. Sigg pitched three no-hit innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Mason Coons threw one inning, giving up no hits and striking out two. Aaron Barclay pitched the seventh, gave up one hit, walked one batter and struck out one.
Coons and Drew Walden, who was behind the plate for both games, went 3-for-4 in the game with two singles and a double. Coons had three RBIs. Braden Larson was at the plate three times for the Mustangs — he walked and hit two doubles.
Levi Ashmore had a bunt single and beat out an infield hit for a base hit plus stole three bases. Clint Heffern doubled and Sigg singled.
The Mustangs scored two runs in the first inning when Coons doubled in Sigg and Walden. Larson doubled to start the second inning and with two gone, he scored on a passed ball. Ashmore bunted on, stole second and came home on an RBI single by C. Heffern.
Iola added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The Mustangs put two more runs up on the scoreboard in the sixth.
“We swung the bats well. When the guys were asked to bunt and move guys around, they did a great job doing it,” Percy said. “We still have things to work on but had a great start to the season.”
The Mustangs needed just five innings to record the second win of the season. They scored three runs in the first, three in the second, four runs in the third and five in the fourth for a 15-3 victory.
Jarred Latta was on the mound to start the second game for Iola. He worked four innings, giving up two runs on four hits and one walk and striking out two. Larson pitched the fifth inning, allowing one run on one hit and two walks and he struck out two.
Sigg was 3-for-3 with three doubles and drove in five runs for the Mustangs. Larson hit two singles and a double for a 3-for-3 contest. Ashmore and C. Heffern each had two singles. Walden, Coons and Devon Conner each had a base hit.
