SPRING HILL — Iola High’s Mustangs did what they were supposed to do Monday afternoon. As the No. 2 seed in the 2011 Kansas Class 4A Regional Baseball Tournament, the Mustangs were supposed to beat No. 7 Louisburg High’s Wildcats.
The Mustangs used a strong pitching performance from Jarred Latta, some timely hitting by several players including Corey Taylor and some solid plays in the field defensively. They put it together for a 7-3 victory on the Spring Hill High baseball field.
“It was a good win. We did what we needed to do to get the first win allowing us to get to the semifinals,” said Mark Percy, Mustang head coach.
Latta was on the mound for the Mustangs. He and the Mustang defense worked out of several trouble spots. The junior notched a complete game for Iola as he gave up eight hits, walked three and struck out four.
“We got what we needed from Jarred. He wanted the ball at the end and we left him in to finish it,” Percy said. “For the most part, Jarred kept the ball down in the strike zone and we made plays in the field behind him.”
Monday’s victory put the Mustangs in today’s semifinal game against the host Broncos. Spring Hill beat Anderson County 3-0 Monday.
It’s a rematch of last year’s semifinal which the Broncos pulled out by a run. They went on to win the regional.
Today, the Mustangs and the Broncos play at 4:30 p.m. at the SHHS field.
Prairie View High’s Buffalos, seeded No. 8, pulled off a 7-5 upset win over top-seeded Osawatomie Monday. Prairie View faces Fort Scott, which edged Paola 4-3 Monday, at 2 o’clock today.
The winners of the semifinal games play for the regional title and a berth in the 2011 state tournament at 7 p.m. The Kansas Class 4A State Baseball Tournament is May 27-28 in Salina.
A good omen Monday for the Mustangs could have been an over-the-shoulder-back-to-the infield catch by shortstop Levi Ashmore. Ashmore ranged out into center field to record the second out of the second inning.
The teams played two full innings before the Wildcats broke through. Three singles, a walk and a fielder’s choice produced two runs for Louisburg in the top of the third.
No worries.
Latta reached on an error to open Iola’s third. Ashmore singled and Clint Heffern drew a walk to load the bases. Sigg hit into a fielder’s choice which was a play at home plate.
Louisburg shortstop Kyle Edwards threw home and catcher Brennen Huffman dove to put his glove with the baseball in it on the plate ahead of Latta. But Taylor drilled a pitch down the third-base line driving in two runs.
Louisburg’s left fielder had trouble handling the baseball. That allowed a third run to score and Taylor pull into third base. With two gone, Mason Coons delivered an RBI single.
Iola led 4-2. The Mustangs added two more runs in the fourth. Sigg had a double to drive in a run and scored on a single by Taylor.
The Wildcats scored a run in the sixth. It could have been more but catcher Drew Walden was able to recover a wild pitch, flip it to Latta who tagged out Nick Chapman trying to score from third.
The Mustangs produced a run to counter in their half of the inning. Heffern was hit by a pitch then came around to score on a double by Sigg.
There were two gone in the top of the seventh when the Cats had back-to-back singles. Latta got Nick Chapman to fly out to Coons in left field to end the threat and the game.
Percy pointed out several plays in the outfield and infield by the Mustangs in the game that kept Louisburg from having big innings.
Sigg finished with two doubles and Taylor had a single and a double. Coons hit two singles.
Ashmore, Walden and Latta each had a base hit.
“We had timely hitting but we’re not hitting as well as I would like as a team,” Percy said. “We got the win and are moving on.”
Mustangs win 4A regional opener Iola, Spring Hill play in regional semifinal today
