Iola High’s baseball team gave the local fans both kinds of victories to savor Tuesday.
The first, a tense, edge-of-your-seat pitcher’s duel, saw Iola’s Korbin Cloud come out just ahead of Osawatomie’s Cooper Peterson in a 2-0 shutout.
In Game 2, Iola sent 20 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, scoring 14, and cruising to an 18-3 romp.
“It was a collective effort,” Mustang head coach Levi Ashmore said. “Korbin threw really well, and we played well defensively.”
With Game 2 well in hand from the outset, it allowed Ashmore to play several reserves for the balance of the game.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who come and work hard every day at practice, and unfortunately, we only get to play nine to 11 of them a day,” Ashmore said. “I was glad to get those kids some at-bats. It was fun.”
Cloud and Peterson were taking turns silencing the other team’s bats through the first three innings before Iola sophomore Tre Wilson blasted a mammoth shot to left, into the face of a relentless south wind, to push Iola ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
Cloud, meanwhile, held Osawatomie hitless through the first five innings before Osawatomie Caden O’Brien poked a single just inside the right field line to lead off the sixth. Cloud promptly ended the threat by inducing a grounder back to him for a 1-4-3 double play, and then getting a slow roller to first for the third out.
Cloud also played an indirect role in Iola’s insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. He worked a walk to lead off the frame. Wilson followed with a grounder to short, which turned into a fielder’s choice when the Trojan shortstop threw to second for a force play.
Wilson moved up to second on Grady Dougherty’s ground-out and stole third. He then scored on Mac Leoonard’s infield single.
Cloud wobbled a bit in the final frame. He allowed a leadoff double, but the runner was thrown out trying to make it to third on a passed ball.
The play loomed large because Cloud walked the next batter, and then hit another with two outs.
But Cloud buckled down and retired the final batter of the game on a grounder to first.
He wound up striking out eight, allowing two hits over seven innings.
Peterson, who has committed to pitch at Fort Scott Community College next season, allowed five hits with five strikeouts over six innings.
