Iola High’s junior varsity baseball team saw a 4-1 lead vanish in the top of the fifth inning Thursday. Independence High’s Bulldogs came up with a three-run double to tie the game.
The Mustangs were not going to just play five innings and end in tie again. They had a 3-3 game called at the end of five innings with Chanute Tuesday.
Shelton Reno singled to open the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Eric Heffern got a base hit and Tyler Tomlinson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Shae Beasely hit a slow roller up the first base line. The Bulldogs tried to throw home for a force out. Reno beat the throw, which was wide, scoring the winning run, 5-4.
The second game went to the Bulldogs. They broke open a 1-1 game with six runs in the third and went on to win 10-4.
“Overall, the kids played pretty well. We had too many walks issued and too many errors in the field but it was good experience for these younger players,” said Mark Percy, Mustang head coach.
“We threw less experienced pitchers in these games. We’re trying to develop pitchers and for the most part they did a good job.”
In the first game, Aaron Barclay threw three scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, walked four and struck out six.
“Aaron did a good job and really battled through a couple of jams,” Coach Percy said.
Tyler Clubine pitched 11⁄3 innings, surrendering four runs on three hits and five walks with one strike out. Braden Larson pitched two-thirds of an inning and had a strikeout.
Devon Conner connected for two singles for Iola. Hitting a single each were Michael Anderson, Clubine, Reno, E. Heffern and Tomlinson.
Larson started on the mound for Iola in the second game. He went two innings and gave up seven runs on four hits and two walks. He had three strikeouts.
Reno pitched three innings to finish things out. He gave up three runs on two hits, one walk and two hit batters. He notched two strikeouts.
Larson hit a double. E. Heffern, Clubine, Anderson, Reno and Garrett Donovan each had a base hit.
Iola’s junior varsity will host Burlington next Thursday and Pittsburg next Friday.
Mustang JV and Bulldogs each win one
