A MIXED BAG: Indians go to semifinals in showcase tournament

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Sports

June 26, 2017 - 12:00 AM

KANSAS CITY — The Post 15 Indians can’t seem to catch a break with the injury bug so far this season and that continued at the 18-and-Under USSSA College Showcase this weekend.
Derek Bycroft — the Mustangs’ First Team All-State pitcher as a sophomore this past season — made his first start on the mound this season, but as the Indians were bolstered by Bycroft’s return, they lost one of their other aces with Daylon Splane suffering with soreness in his tricep.
The Cubs’ Second Team All-State selection had been anchoring Iola’s pitching rotation prior to the weekend, but he began dealing with a sore arm after his last start against Yates Center.
Iola coach Rick Vink limited Splane to just designated hitter duty in the tournament.
The Bycroft and Splane injury news began a weekend the seemed full of good news and bad news trade-offs.
After going 2-2 in pool-play, the Indians advanced to bracket-play to face off with the top-seed and defending tournament champions St. Joseph Storm.
Iola was forced to dig into its pitching depth and start Isaac Vink, who has been the sixth most-used pitcher for the team throughout the season, but with Splane unavailable and Bycroft, Ben Cooper, Ethan Tavarez and Cal Leonard having already started games during pool-play in was Vink’s turn.
“With Daylon not being able to pitch, we still made it to a fifth game against this level of competition.” Coach Vink said. “I feel really good about where we are as a team.”
Vink got off to a slow start by giving up three runs in the first inning and one run in the second.
“We threw Isaac out there, who hasn’t pitched much,” Coach Vink said. “He didn’t pitch much during high-school ball and when he did pitch for us that was in Garnett three weeks ago.”
The offense also struggled early as well with the Storm starting the game with three perfect innings and holding a 4-0 lead after three frames.
The Indians found their offense in the fourth inning with Vink being hit by a pitch and Blake Ashmore and Derek Bycroft following with  back-to-back singles.
The Storm buckled down though and held the Indians to just two runs as they maintained a lead at 4-2.
The Indians tacked on another run in the fourth inning with Leonard scoring on a Vink ground out.
Meanwhile Vink found his groove on the mound. He pitched scoreless frames in the third and fourth, while leaning on his defense which had been struggling earlier in the tournament.
“It is nice to see us play defense,” Coach Vink said.
The defense was especially strong in the fourth inning when the Storm had runners on the corners with no outs. 
Vink drew a double play with Bycroft ranging to his right to pick up a grounder, step on second base and throw to first for the double play. The inning ended on a hard liner that Cooper was able to leap up and grab from his shortstop spot.
Leonard came in to pitch for Vink with one out in the fifth. Leonard — who had thrown 73 pitches the day before — was very strong, getting five-straight outs to finish the fifth and sixth frames.
The Indians were unable to scratch across any more runs though and ended up falling 4-3.
Despite the loss, Coach Vink was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We fought back,” Vink said. “We scratched out three runs on only two hits, which is a testament to their pitching.   We had some good base-running and Ben had a great bunt.
“We played one of our best games today, but just came up short.”

POOL-PLAY
The pool-play portion of the tournament was extremely inconsistent for the Indians.
In the first game of the tournament, Iola was able to take a 6-3 victory over the Legacy Baseball Academy from Excelsior Springs, Mo.
Ethan Tavarez started for the Indians and threw the first four innings while only giving up one earned run and dealing with a defense that committed five errors.
Cooper pitched scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth innings and Vink closed the game up by surrendering just one run in the seventh.
The offense was led by the Humboldt duo of Lance Daniels and Splane, who each had two RBIs. Daniels finished 2-for-3 with a double.
The team defense continued to struggle in a 3-0 loss to the Northwest Missouri Nationals.
Bycroft got his first start of the Legion season and threw a complete game and only allowed two earned runs on four hits, but the defense committed three errors.
That was enough for the Nationals to escape with the victory.
Tavarez was the team’s top hitter, going 2-for-3.
The defensive struggles reached a peak against the Excelsior Springs Tigers when eight errors led to a 14-10 loss for the Indians.
Iola had a 7-3 lead going into the third inning, but five of those errors occurred in the 11-run fourth inning as the Tigers opened up a 14-7 lead and Iola couldn’t recover.
Kane Rogers did pitch extremely well out of the bullpen with three shutout innings to close the game.
With a spot in bracket-play hanging in the balance, Iola turned back to Cooper — who had just thrown 45 pitches the day before — against the Kansas City Naturals.
Cooper delivered in a big way by throwing 104 pitches for a complete game and the 9-3 victory.
“I wanted us to have every pitcher we could available for (Sunday’s bracket-play), so I wanted to finish what I started,” Cooper said. “I felt really good. After throwing two innings yesterday (Friday) my arm was a little tired right off the bat, but I just tried  compete and throw strikes.”
Coach Vink said that Cooper was determined to go the distance.
“I was going to take him out after the sixth, but he wouldn’t let me,” Vink said.
Cooper was also one of six Indians with multiple hits in the blowout win.
“On the Legion team, there isn’t as much pressure on me to hit,” Cooper said. “I’m able to bat last and that is where I prefer to hit. It is working out well lately.”
Vink, Splane and Leonard each had three hits while Cooper, Ashmore and Daniels had two a piece.

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