CARBONDALE — Iola High’s Mustangs saw both sides of the coin Tuesday.
After struggling on offense, and then on defense, in a 10-0 loss to Santa Fe Trail in the first game of their doubleheader, the Mustang responded with a wallop, behind the pitching of sophomore Korbin Cloud.
Cloud tossed a five-inning no-hitter, striking out seven in an 11-0 rout.
The split caps Iola’s regular season at 14-4 with the Class 4A Regionals set to begin next week.
“Getting that win in the second game was exactly what I was hoping we’d do,” Iola head coach Ryan Latta said. “We didn’t want to have two losses before the playoffs. It was nice to get back in the win column and play like ourselves.”
After a silent first game, the Mustangs struck quickly in the nightcap. Ryker Curry singled in a run for a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Cloud walked to lead off the third. Jarrett Herrmann and Weide followed with doubles to plate two more. A wild pitch put Weide on third, where he scored on Brandon McKarnin’s sacrifice fly.
Herrmann doubled again in the fifth before a sacrifice fly, an error, walk and hit batter loaded the bases for Drake DeLaTorre, who worked a walk to make it 6-0.
An error off the bat of Cooper Riley tacked on another run before Cloud singled in two more with two outs. Herrmann walked to reload the base, Weide singled in a run and McKarnin capped the scoring with a bases-loaded walk.
That was more than enough for Cloud, who walked two and allowed just one baserunner to make it to second base.
Cloud has ascended to the role of Iola’s front-line starter, with senior Ryker Curry sidelined from pitching.
“He’s proven that each time we give him the ball, he does well,” Latta said. “He gets both of his pitches over for strikes, and that’s the key to the game.”
Herrmann doubled twice, while Weide singled and doubled and drove in four. Curry, Carter Hutton, DeLaTorre, TJ Taylor and Cloud each chipped in with singles.
THE OPENER started as a pitchers’ duel between McKarnin and Santa Fe Trail’s Kyle Strother.
The Chargers scratched out a second-inning run to lead 1-0 before breaking things open in the fourth with — of all things — back-to-back bunt singles to start the frame.
“They caught us a little bit off guard,” Latta said. A walk and a pair of singles followed, and suddenly Iola’s deficit was 5-0. McKarnin ended the threat with a strikeout for the second out before Hutton threw out a Charger baserunner off first to end the threat.
