PRATT — Iola’s AA American Legion pushed all the right buttons to open the state baseball tournament Wednesday afternoon. IN ORDER TO advance to face Concordia, Iola first had to contend with Hays starter Pierce Schippers’ assortment of breaking pitches.
The Post 15 Indians found their hitting groove early on, while starting pitcher Trent Latta showed few if any effects from an extended layoff.
Iola steamrolled Hays TMP 11-1, setting up a Herculean winners bracket tilt tonight against Concordia, which defeated Wellington, 8-0. Iola (38-3) will start Nathan Whitcomb, while Concordia (23-1) counters with Nathan Gieber in what promises to be a dandy pitchers’ matchup.
Whitcomb was an all-state pitcher for Humboldt High School and has signed to pitch next season for Neosho County Community College. Gieber was all-state in Class 4A and will pitch next season for Cowley Community College.
“He’s a great pitcher, but we’ll be ready to go,” Iola coach Roland Weir said.
First pitch is at 6 p.m. at Pratt’s Green Sports Complex.
“We didn’t hit the ball particularly hard, but we did a good job of making contact, especially with two strikes,” Weir said.
Iola put its first two batters on base in all four innings — the game was shortened to four innings because of the 10-run differential — and remained aggressive on the basepaths.
Latta had a pair of RBI singles in the first two innings, while Eric Heffern struck a two-run single in the top of the second as Iola forged ahead 4-1.
Schippers wiggled out of a jam in the third inning after the Indians put runners on second and third with nobody out, holding the Indians scoreless in the frame.
But that was just a prelude to Iola’s knockout punch.
Nine straight Iola batters reached base in the top of the fourth, including Derrick Weir’s two-run single, Jarred Latta’s RBI single and Drew Faulhaber’s single to plate two more runs. Aaron Barclay was next with run-scoring single. Levi Ashmore’s sac fly ended the barrage.
Meanwhile, Trent Latta hit his stride after a walk, single and error led to Hays’ only run of the game in the bottom of the first. Heffern’s dandy catch of Ryan Schippers’ drive to center turned into a sacrifice fly for the Monarchs’ only tally.
Latta retired the next 10 Hays batters in order to end the game.
Latta allowed just the one hit in four innings, while striking out six and walking one in his first start since the end of the regular season July 8.
He pitched two innings of relief in the KABA tournament July 13, and none since then. Iola was so dominant in the Zone 3 tournament last week that Weir didn’t need to use Latta on the mound.
“Trent did his usual thing — pitch great,” Weir said. “That layoff didn’t effect him at all.”
The key to taking on Concordia will be to maintain pressure on the Blues’ defense, Weir said.
“We did that today. We put pressure on their defense, we hit the ball, and we pitched well,” he said. “If we can continue doing that, we’ll be tough to beat.”
In other tournament action Wednesday, Ellis edged Westmoreland, 1-0, and Sabetha thumped host Pratt, 11-2.
Indians open state with 11-1 rout
