CONCORDIA — The Iola AA Indians were crowned Kansas American Legion state champions for back-to-back times in Concordia Sunday.
The Indians (29-6) soaked in the feeling of another state championship victory in dominance. They were led by Trey Sommer, who pitched another complete-game shutout with seven strikeouts and also hit a two-run home run in a 10-0 whopping.
“It just shows that baseball is definitely the biggest sport in our area,” Iola head coach Ethan Tavarez said. “It’s back to back now and we’re planning on doing it again next summer. It’s important encouraging these guys to come out and be a part of a winning team.”
With the championship secured, Iola moves on to the Kansas American Legion Super-State series against Pittsburg AAA Post 64 on Friday in Humboldt.
Sommer was brilliant both on the mound and at the plate for the Indians while Rogan Weir, Sam Hull and Trevor Church each drove in two runs. The Indians also scored runs in four of the five innings they batted.
“It’s nice when you’re pitching and you can help yourself out at the plate, too,” said Sommer. “It’s nice to have the pitching we have coming into these tournaments and the coaches did a good job spreading it out. I didn’t think the home run was going to get out, but it did.”
Iola jumped on top in the bottom of the first when Weir singled to center field to score Logan Page for the 1-0 lead. Sommer then delivered with his two-run homer to left center field for the 3-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the third, Hull grounded a ball to second base which he reached due to an error to plate Brandon McKarnin and Henry White for the 5-0 edge. Gavin Page then grounded out to shortstop to bring home Hull and make it a 6-0 ball game. 
Weir flied out to center field to score Church for the 7-0 advantage in the fourth. Sommer then shot a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Logan Page for the 8-0 lead.
Church came through with the game-winning hit, a two-run single to right field to score Kaiden Barnett and Gavin Page, for the 10-0 victory in five innings.
Concordia managed only two hits off Sommer, one in the second and the other in the fifth. 
“It’s huge that we have guys that can go a whole game throwing strikes and we can trust them pitching,” said Tavarez. “It helps us in these tournaments because we’re only down two guys when we get to the championship. It’s an advantage because we have guys that come in and do their jobs.”
Sommer led at the plate with a team-high three RBI’s and two hits while McKarnin added two hits and Weir, Hull, Barnett and Church each had one hit. Tre Wilson walked a team-high two times.
