Mark Percy admits his Iola High Mustangs squad isn’t yet where it needs to be on the diamond, but Tuesday was a significant step in the right direction. MINOR picked up the baton in the second game.
Iola picked up its first two wins of the season in a doubleheader sweep of visiting Anderson County, 7-2 and 9-5.
The wins even the Mustangs’ mark at 2-2 on the young season.
“You could tell we’ve improved quite a bit from our opener,” Percy said. “We just have to keep working to get better.”
Pitching performances like those from Trent Latta and Thealvin Minor won’t hurt.
Latta allowed just two hits and struck out 12 in his five innings in Tuesday’s opener. A pair of Mustang errors contributed to Anderson County’s only run against Latta.
“He looked pretty good out there, but Trent’s not nearly as good as he’s going to be,” Percy said.
Ethan Scheibmeir provided all the offense Latta would need. He blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the third to push Iola’s lead to 4-0.
Latta had a hand in Iola’s first-inning run. He led off the frame with a walk, stole a base and came home on Derrick Weir’s single.
After Anderson County closed the gap to 4-1 on a pair of Iola errors in the top of the fourth, Kohl Endicott led off Iola’s half of the inning with a walk. Latta followed one out later with a single. Both wound up scoring to push the game out of reach.
A Bulldog error led to Ethan Sigg’s RBI single in the fifth for Iola’s final tally.
Weir finished off the win by pitching two innings of relief. He allowed one hit, one run and two walks. He struck out two.
Iola only had four hits, Scheibmeir’s home run and singles by Latta, Weir and Sigg.
“Derrick tweaked something in his hip before the game, so he didn’t swing the bat as well as he was capable of,” Percy said. “He still did a good job.”
His ability to throw strikes, backed up by Iola’s solid defense, kept Anderson County’s offense at bay in the early going.
He allowed a leadoff home run in the top of the third before keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard until tiring in the sixth.
Scheibmeir came on in relief and got the final two outs in the sixth after Anderson County had scored three times and had the bases loaded. Scheibmeir ran into a jam in the top of the seventh.
Anderson County scored a run and had two others on base before Percy summoned Latta once again to the mound.
“I hated having to use Trent again, but we figured we needed to end this game right there before it got any hairier,” Percy said.
Latta came through, striking out the final Anderson County batter of the night.
Minor gave up seven hits in 5 1/3 innings to get the win. Scheibmeir gave up two hits and two walks in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
The Mustang batters got the early jump. Faulhaber, Weir and Scheibmeir singled in a two-run first. Minor’s leadoff walk and an error, followed by Latta’s double helped push the lead to 5-0 by the end of the second.
Minor again aided his cause in the third with a two-out double. He scored on Aiello’s RBI single.
Faulhaber singled and scored in the fourth before Endicott singled and Aiello doubled as part of a two-run fifth.
Faulhaber and Aiello each had a single and double. Latta and Minor each had doubles. Weir, Scheibmeir and Endicott had singles.
“It’s nice to get these wins to start league,” Percy said.
The Mustang junior varsity is in Burlington Friday. The varsity squad returns home next Tuesday to host Osawatomie.
Mustangs sweep past Bulldogs
