Months of grueling practices, long road trips and avoiding rain drops boiled down to a matter of inches for Iola High’s baseball team Friday.
With a runner at third base and two outs in the fifth, Bishop Miege’s Hayden Thilges connected on a perfectly placed Bradyn Cole curveball in a tie Class 4A Regional title game. Thilges looped the ball just beyond the outstretched glove of Mustang first baseman Dillon Bycroft to the outfield, scoring the go-ahead run in a 3-2 victory.
Iola had two golden opportunities to tie or take the lead after that, but left runners on second and third in the sixth and had a runner on third base in the seventh when Miege’s Jude Putz recorded a strikeout to end the game — and Iola’s season.
