INDEPENDENCE The future was on display Thursday night in Independence when finally, after weeks of rain delays, Iola baseball played two series in a week.
Gone was the safety net of their two proven pitching studs in senior Derek Bycroft and junior Cal Leonard. It was time to see what two of the younger arms on the varsity roster had to offer.
The result 11 combined innings, three hits, a walk and eight strikeouts. Sophomores Nathan Louk and Bradyn Cole each earned shut-out wins and proved that theyre more than ready to fully step into their roles as the third and fourth starters on the team.
I was really proud of them, head coach Mark Percy said. And I think both of them can get better but Louk and Bradyn are both sophomores so it shows that there are only good things to come from them in the future. They can only improve from here as they get older and stronger.
Iola won game one 6-0 and game two 4-0, moving them to a 10-0 start.
Louk had gotten some varsity work already this season. He threw three scoreless innings versus Chanute in a game that got rained out and he earned a win versus Anderson County in a game where he struggled at times but survived through five innings with just two earned runs allowed.
Cole had pitched just two varsity innings earlier in the year at Anderson County. He allowed a run on three hits with five strikeouts. Both sophomores had shown flashes but Thursday night was about as complete of a performance as you could ask for.
Any time you get two shutouts youll take it, Percy said. And any time you get two shutouts from two sophomores who havent played much varsity, youll take it.
Offensively, the Mustangs ran into some trouble. Despite a four-run barrage in the first inning of game one, the Mustangs scoring was sparse and piecemeal.
And it wasnt that Iola wasnt hitting. They had 12 hits in game one and eight in game two, but it was what they were doing with those hits.
The Mustangs left eight runners on base in game one and six in game two. The lack of getting guys home has been the biggest thing thats held the Mustangs back from reaching their true potential so far this season.
It seems like a lot of the year even when were hitting the ball really well weve got guys on second and third or bases loaded with less than two outs and we come out and dont have a good at-bat, Percy said. Thats where weve got to concentrate and get it done. Hit it somewhere and get the run home. Those things are frustrating because I know we can do it. Those are the things we need to be doing by the end of the year if we want to do something in the postseason. Weve got to be better than that.
Were only about halfway through the year so Im hoping that once we start playing more games that will start to swing it better, Percy said.
In game one, Cal Leonard led all batters with three hits followed by two for senior Blake Ashmore and Louk. In game two, Bycroft and Louk each had two.
The Mustangs will really get a test this coming week when they play three series. Theyll host Parsons on Tuesday before traveling to Neodesha on Thursday. They will then pick up the Chanute series on Friday starting in the fourth inning of game one. It will be a week that will test their pitching depth but the extra reps at the plate might be whats needed to get their offense where it needs to be coming down the home stretch of the season.
