The route to the state baseball tournament may not have followed the original path Iola High’s Mustangs expected to follow this season.
But that matters nada when you get a pitching performance like Iola received Tuesday.
Mustang pitchers Korbin Cloud, Mac Leonard and Jarrett Herrmann combined to allow two hits in sweeping past Baldwin and Rock Creek in the Class 4A Regional Tournament.
The 13-1 romp over Baldwin and 5-0 shutout over Rock Creek have earned Iola a berth in next week’s Class 4A State Tournament, which begins May 26 in Salina.
On a day of stars, with key contributions up and down the lineup and at times dazzling defense, none shined brighter than Cloud, whose sudden emergence as Iola’s staff ace suddenly has the Mustangs dreaming of more than just making an appearance at state.
“We don’t just want to go out there for one game,” Mustang head coach Ryan Latta said. “We’re going out there to make a run. It was nice to get this goal done, but we have more.”
Cloud, who finished the regular season with a no-hit victory over Santa Fe Trail on May 10, continued his late-season mound surge.
He tossed two hitless innings at the start of the win over Baldwin. With a healthy lead in hand — Iola was up 11-0 by the end of the second inning — Latta pulled Cloud so he could be used in the second game as well.
Leonard, another sophomore, came on in relief and allowed a single hit over the final three innings.
Cloud picked up right where he left off in the title game, channeling his inner Johnny Vander Meer and stifling Rock Creek’s lineup over five innings. In doing so, he’s now stretched his hitless inning streak to 12.
Cloud was particularly effective the few times Rock Creek put runners on base, working out of a second-inning jam with runners on second and third with one out, and then again slamming the door after Wamego put a runner on third via a three-base error in the fifth.
“Oh my goodness, he did a heck of a job in both games,” gushed Herrmann, who came on in relief over the final two innings of the Rock Creek win after Cloud had reached his pitch limit for the day. “He threw strikes, and they couldn’t hit him at all.”
“We were really lucky to have him able to pitch both games,” Latta agreed. “Korbin’s been doing what Korbin’s been doing. He competed. That’s exactly what you want from a pitcher. It’s easy to get out there and be confident when you’re ahead in the count and nobody’s on base. But when you get in a tough situation, that’s when you really gotta bear down and do a great job.”
It turned out Herrmann was pretty adept at wiggling off the hook as well. The Iola junior was summoned to pitch after Cloud exited. He deftly pitched around a pair of walks in the sixth inning, and then ended the game with runners on first and third with one out with a fly ball to center.
Rock Creek’s baserunner on first, apparently thinking there were two outs, never retreated as Iola center fielder TJ Taylor camped under the fly ball. Taylor, seeing the Rock Creek runner had already crossed second base, was able to throw to Ryker Curry at first to easily complete the double play to end the game.
Quick starts offensively for Iola set the tone.