High School Baseball: Iola Mustangs
The Kansas Association of Baseball Coaches announced Saturday evening that five Iola baseball players were named to the 4A-II All-State team.
Junior Derek Bycroft earned first-team pitching honors along with 4A-II Pitcher of the Year accolades, sophomore Calvin Delich was named as a first-team outfielder, senior Ethan Tavarez was named a second-team designated hitter, senior Isaac Vink earned honorable mention all-state honors as a pitcher and sophomore Cal Leonard earned honorable mention honors as a closer.
The five all-state players are the most Iola has gotten in school history. The 2013 team that finished second at state had four players honored.
I think thats the most weve ever gotten on an all-state team, head coach Mark Percy said. And any time you get any kind of all-state mention, its special, even if its honorable mention. I was smiling when I left the place, Ill tell you that.
Bycrofts honor comes after a season of excellence on the mound, throwing for a team-high 41.2 innings with a 0.504 ERA. He struck out 59 batters and allowed just 23 hits, 14 walks, and three earned runs all season.
Weve only had a pitcher or player of the year one time and that was Trent Latta (assistant coach Ryan Lattas brother) and he was a heck of a pitcher for us. To get that is a pretty big honor, Percy said. There are a lot of really good pitchers around the state.
And when you go to the all-state meeting youre not allowed to vote for your own guys so for all of the other coaches to vote on Derek for pitcher of the year makes it even more special. A lot of the teams that were there were either going to state or had really good teams and here they are voting for our guy for pitcher of the year. Hes got some people who think a lot of him.
Delich heads into state with a team-high .485 batting average recording 25 RBIs on 33 hits and Tavarez had a .353 average with 12 RBIs on 24 hits. Delich also has a fielding percentage of .943 while mostly playing in left field and committed only two errors all season.
Vink has the second lowest ERA on the staff (0.72) after throwing 29 innings and allowing 20 hits, nine walks and three earned runs. Hes struck out 34 batters.
I was surprised when coach called me because honestly, all I do is just go in there and pitch when they need me to, Vink said. I was not expecting anything, but I guess I was doing pretty good.
Leonard has been a revelation this year on the mound, especially with Tavarez having to take a step away from pitching after shoulder troubles midway through the season.
He pitched 31.2 innings with a 1.33 ERA while allowing 20 hits and four walks and recording 24 strikeouts.
The Mustangs (20-2) will head into state on Thursday as the four-seed versus five-seed Wichita Trinity Academy (18-3).
First pitch is set for 1:15 p.m. at Dean Evans Stadium in Salina.
