Over the past several years, Iola High and Crest have proven to be two of the standard-bearers for high school baseball in southeast Kansas.
The Mustangs have twice advanced to the state championship, winning it all in 2018. Crest, meanwhile, reached the state tournament twice in the past three years, finishing fourth in 2022.
But the schools, less than a dozen miles apart, had never squared off on the diamond.
Until Tuesday.
The opening game of their doubleheader kept fans of both teams on the edge of their seats to the final pitch, when Mustang freshman Jase Herrmann made a sliding catch in center field with the tying run on third base to seal a 5-4 victory.
The Mustangs then took advantage of three home runs in Game 2, two-run shots from both Grady Dougherty and Landon Weide and a grand slam from Ben Kerr, as part of a 13-7 victory.
The sweep gives the Mustangs a lift as they get set to host rival Chanute for a single game on Friday.
Iola head coach Levi Ashmore said his message to the players afterward was to enjoy the win, but to recognize work remains.
“We do know there’s a lot to work ahead,” he said. “We’re not where we want to be. We need a couple of good days of practice against a great team in Chanute.”
The Lancers, who graduated seven senior standouts from 2023 — four of whom are on college baseball teams this year — showed several encouraging signs, Crest head coach Roland Weir said. “We definitely got our feet wet today. I’m proud of our boys. We’ve gotta keep getting better. And we will.”
The Mustangs got the early jump in the opener, with a pair of walks leading to Mac Leonard’s RBI single. But the rally ended with the bases loaded.
Iola then scored three in the second on only one hit. Korbin Cloud walked and Tre Wilson was hit by a pitch, both with the bases loaded, to make it 3-0. Leonard’s sacrifice fly drove in the fourth run.
Cloud, meanwhile, pitched three hitless innings to start things off, but Ashmore opted to pull him before the fourth to keep his pitch count low.
Crest pounced, with a walk and hit batter leading to Ryan Golden’s three-run blast to slice the deficit to one.
Both teams had chances to score in the middle innings, but couldn’t, until Iola’s Easton Weseloh blasted an RBI double with one out in the sixth to drive in Nick Bauer. The Lancers averted further damage when Ben Kerr was thrown out trying to score on the same play.
The sequence loomed large when Crest came to bat in the top of the seventh.
A Mustang fielding error started the frame before Henry White smacked a double to left, putting runners on second and third with nobody out.
