Indians easily handle Osawatomie with sweep

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Sports

June 30, 2014 - 12:00 AM

HUMBOLDT — Iola’s American Legion baseball team handled a less than stellar Osawatomie Sunday afternoon, only allowing one hit combined in both games.
“I think everything is starting to come together,” coach Roland Weir said. “We’re hitting the ball better up and down the order now. The pitching has been great all year long, defensively we’ve been great for most of the part all year long.”
The bats were hot for the Indians in game one’s 11-1 win. Iola got on the board with four runs coming in the top of the fourth. With bases loaded, Caleb Vanatta hit a single, scoring two runs. Jacob Carpenter followed with a ground out to the pitcher, which scored a run. Grayson Pearish then hit an RBI-single for the final run of the inning.
Not satisfied with a four-run lead, the offense plated in five more runs in the second inning. Hunter Murrow started the scoring with an RBI-single. Trent Latta hit him in with a triple to right-center field. Weir continued the trend, with an RBI-single to score Latta. Vanatta had another RBI on an infield single. Carpenter ended the scoring with an RBI-double, giving the Indians a 9-0 lead.
Iola scored two runs in the fourth inning. Drew Faulhaber had an RBI-single and the other run scored on an error. The Indians would win the game 11-1 after the inning because of the run limit being reached.
Caleb D’Armond started the game strong, pitching two solid innings to earn the win. He had four strikeouts, allowing no hits.
Carpenter came in to pitch for the first time this year in the third inning. He had five walks, walking in the only Osawatomie run with the bases loaded. He did have two strikeouts. Vanatta finished off the game, with one inning of work. He walked two, allowing no runs.
Carpenter led the offense with three RBIs, and a single. Vanatta had two singles and two RBIs.

GAME TWO resulted in a 4-2 Indian win. Iola got on the board first again. Latta plated in a run on a ground out to second base in the first inning for a 1-0 lead. In the second inning, Carpenter had an RBI-single and Faulhaber had a sac fly to center field to score another.
The bottom half of the second, tensions began to rise. With one out and a 2-0 count, catcher Alex Murrow threw down to third to pick off the baserunner. This led to a run down, with the runner eventually slamming into Faulhaber at home plate to score. A scuffle ensued, that was quickly broken up. After deliberation by the umpires, the runner was ruled out for not sliding. Both Faulhaber and the Osawatomie player played the rest of the game.
Iola added one more run in the third off a sacrifice fly by Latta. The Indians would win 4-2.
Faulhaber got the win, pitching 1 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one. Hunter Murrow finished the second inning for him, pitching two more innings after the incident. He struck out two, allowing only one hit.
Eric Heffern came into pitch the final inning, his first time on the mound this season. He gave up both runs, walking two and striking out one. Both runs scored on wild pitches. The final play of the game was a nifty strike ’em out, throw ’em out double-play. After the strikeout by Heffern, catcher Alex Murrow threw out the runner leading off too much at third base to end the game.
The Indians (20-1) will face Wellsville tonight in a doubleheader starting at 6 p.m. at Humboldt.
“Wellsville should be a good team, they were in high school,” coach Weir said. “They were the 3A state champions. Some of their kids went north and played up at Johnson County, so I don’t know how many kids they’ve got from that team.”

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