Indians win in style

HUMBOLDT — It’s hard to complain when you win by 17 in just four innings.
Unless you’re Derrick Weir.
He struck out in the bottom of the third after having already recorded a couple of hits and a couple of runs earlier in the game, which certainly isn’t much to gripe about.
Unless you’re Derrick Weir.
“He just don’t strike out,” coach Roland Weir said, after his Iola American Legion squad defeated Burlington 18-1.
Although many coaches aren’t afraid to throw around the occassional hyperbole, Roland was being quite literal.
Derrick really never strikes out.
After picking up two more wins last night — the Indians won the first game of the double header 10-5 — Iola improved to 20-4.
And for the first 23 games of the year, Derrick hadn’t ever gone down in strikes. So for the recent Iola High graduate, it really was the worst part of the day.
“Yeah, (it is) when you never strike out,” Derrick grumbled as he left the field.
Roland just laughed. The rest of the team did as well. The players were in good spirits after a healthy dose of offense lifted them past Burlington and closer to the zone tournament that begins next week.
Every player for the Indians scored at least one run during Monday night’s second game.
Hunter Murrow and Trent Latta paced the offense at the top of the order by plating three RBIs each, including a two-run home run by Latta in the first.
Although Iola’s hitting has been potent all season behind the bats of Murrow, Latta and Derrick Weir, even Roland Weir couldn’t have imagined the outburst he saw at the Humboldt Sports Complex.
“You know, I figured we’d be a little rusty,” Roland said. “We didn’t show any signs of that hitting the ball for the most part.”
Still, a coach has an eye for the small things even when outscoring his opponent 28-6 in the two games.
Roland is no exception.
“Defensively we were a little rusty,” he added.
But he has high hopes heading into Thursday’s doubleheader with Chanute, a AAA American Legion squad. Iola hasn’t lost to Chanute so far this year.
Roland wants to keep that streak alive as the Indians get closer to the end of the season. Last year, the team fell in heartbreaking fashion in the zone tournament after holding a lead.
With these final games, Roland’s goal is to keep his team’s mentality in the right place.
“I’m wanting to go beat Chanute bad,” he said. “I want to be playing good ball at the end, like all coaches.”