The final results of Tuesday’s first and second baseball games for Iola High’s boys were polar opposites, but both left a sour taste in head coach Mark Percy’s mouth. OSAWATOMIE wasted little time with its response.
The Mustangs won the opener, 8-0, over visiting Osawatomie before falling in the nightcap, 14-3.
The split keeps Iola’s record at 3-3 on the season. The Mustangs are 3-1 in Pioneer League action.
Percy said the Mustangs must improve in all phases to be successful in the Pioneer League or beyond.
“I was disappointed in how we played the second game,” he said. “We didn’t pitch well, we didn’t hit well and we didn’t field well. And we weren’t that much better in the first game.”
The Mustangs rode the right arm of senior Trent Latta to the game 1 victory. Latta struck out 13 in six innings, while limiting the Trojans to two hits.
But a pair of errors, coupled with seven full counts on different batters, meant Latta had to throw too many pitches for Percy’s liking.
“There were probably 20 pitches out there he didn’t have to throw,” Percy said.
Derrick Weir came on in relief, pitching a scoreless seventh. He struck out two.
The Mustangs erupted for four runs with two out in the bottom of the second.
Evan Sigg led off the frame with a walk. He was still on base with two out before Caleb Alexander drove him in with a single. Latta followed with a single before Faulhaber drilled a two-run double. A Trojan error plated the fourth run.
Ethan Scheibmeir led off the fifth with a double. He came around to score on an error.
Two walks and a hit batter to lead off the sixth led to three more Mustang runs. Sigg’s sacrifice bunt drove in the final run of the game.
Scheibmeir and Alexander both had singles and doubles to pace the offense. Latta singled twice. Faulhaber had a double. Thealvin Minor chipped in with a single.
The Trojans scored five in the top of the first and never looked back.
Faulhaber reached on an error and scored for Iola’s first run in the bottom of the first. Weir and Scheibmeir singled and scored Iola’s other two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Problem was, Osawatomie already had 10 runs by then.
Latta had Iola’s only other hit.
The Mustangs return to action next Tuesday at home against Prairie View.
Mustangs split with Oz
