JV Mustangs start season off strong with sweep

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Sports

March 31, 2015 - 12:00 AM

Baseball has started for Iola High’s junior varsity team. The bats were red hot for the Mustangs in their 16-0 and 16-1 home wins over Central Heights.
“The hardest part, especially early in the season and when they don’t throw strikes, is that we don’t want [our batters] going up there swinging at everything because you’ll get into really bad habits,” Coach Mark Percy said.
The team listened, patiently drawing a walk eight times down the lineup in the Mustang’s 16-0 win to start the season. It also helped that the Viking squad hurt themselves with multiple balks, wild pitches and errors. Iola’s offense took advantage and peppered in some key hits.
The third inning really saw that offense on display. Ethan Scheibmeir knocked in a run by grounding out to the shortstop. Joey Zimmerman, Keanen Badders and Garrett Wade each hit a two-run double during the frame.
 Everyone else in the lineup — Brett Taylor, Coleson Wiggin, Ethan Sigg, Ben Cooper and Isaac Vink — reached base at least once during the game and scored a run.
Darius Greenawalt earned the win, pitching three innings. He struck out seven, didn’t give up a hit and walked one batter. Vink pitched the next game, posting similar numbers.  He also didn’t give up a hit, but walked a batter that came around to score on a sacrifice fly in the first inning. He pitched four innings, struck out seven and walked two.
“We had two pretty good pitching performances, not bad,” Percy said. “Darius threw around 40 pitches in three innings and Vink threw 60 pitches in four innings. Darius is a sophomore and hasn’t played for a few years and Vink is a freshman. It’s huge getting guys game experience.”
During the 16-1 win, Iola got off to an early lead. Zimmerman, Ethan Tavarez and Braden Plumlee each had an RBI-double. Colton Toney and Greenwalt had an RBI-single in the inning.
Tavarez added another RBI via a single during the second inning. Toney nailed a double that got over the head of the center fielder for a two RBI-double in the same inning.
Again, though, much of Iola’s offense was helped by balks errors and wild pitches. Everyone in the lineup reached base at least once for the Mustangs.
“We’ve got some pretty raw players that haven’t played for a few years,” Percy said. “They’re just getting back into it. Anytime we can get on the field is huge and get game competition.”
But, the team came to play. So much so, that in the top of the second inning, center fielder Garrett Wade made a nice sliding grab for the third out. Instead of running back into the dugout, he ran back to his position in center field looking for a fourth out.
The varsity season starts today at Central Heights. The season was supposed to start last Thursday at home against Chanute, but rains from the day before left the field waterlogged.
“We’re excited about the start. We only kept two guys out [of the lineup today.] This year they moved it up to 26 games that players can play,” Percy said. “It hurt in the past moving from JV to varsity, because you can pinch run once in a varsity game and that counts as a game played. With our numbers — we only have 16 — this rule helps.”
Percy said he expects good competition from Central Heights’ varsity squad.
“They were solid last year and will be solid this year,” Percy said. “Usually, the wind is blowing in on their field and their grass is [long]. So if you hit the ball hard, it might not even get out of the infield.”

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