High School Baseball: Mustangs 6, Vikings 2; Mustangs 4, Vikings 1
On Tuesday night in Parsons, nothing seemed to be working for the now 9-1 Iola Mustangs in game one of their eventual sweep of the host Vikings.
Heading into the top of the seventh, they were staring at their first shutout of the game. They couldnt hit, couldnt get guys around the basepaths and couldnt find an opening to make a move. Until they did.
Six quick runs mounted up in the top of the seventh, giving Iola its first lead of the ballgame. A couple walks here, an error or two there and a massive triple from junior Calvin Delich kept the Mustangs win streak alive and gave Iola the runs it needed to win the ballgame.
If youre going to be good, you have that ability to stay in it even when youre down, head coach Mark Percy said. Somehow you just have to figure out a way to win. Now, they helped us, but we took advantage and I was proud of them for that. It would be pretty easy to just go up there and strike out three times and end the game, but they found a way.
Iola won game one, 6-2, and came back around and won the second game, 4-1.
The grit and vigor the Mustangs showed through both games reminded Percy that while Iola is averaging over 10 runs a game this season, its the other phases of the game that make the Mustangs a team worth fearing.
Last year, our signature was pitching and defense, Percy said. For the last few years thats been our hallmark. And while weve scored a lot more this seait was good to see that when we werent able to put up double-digits, we were still able to revert back to our old ways and grind a couple out.
Derek Bycroft continued his streak of excellence from the mound in game one, allowing just one unearned run on four hits with nine strikeouts. Senior Isaac Vink came in and knocked out the final two innings, allowing a run on three hits with three walks.
In game two, Cal Leonard went the duration and for the first three innings was absolutely perfect. In the end, he allowed a run on two hits with a walk while striking out seven.
In game one, hits were hard to come by. Iola only had eight led by two for Kane Rogers and the majority of those came in that final inning.
In game two, they had even fewer. Five Mustangs recorded a hit but 12 runs were left on base, leaving what couldve been a blowout to what was more of a nip-and-tuck affair.
Im proud we won the second game, too, but it shouldve been 15-1 not 4-1, Percy said. We left so many guys on. It was just ridiculous. And some of those were with less than two outs so we were just having bad at-bats. Thats something we can work on.
Vink led the Mustangs with two hits in game two.
The Mustangs will try to push their streak to double-digits on Thursday when they host Neodesha.
The last few years theyve been down and I think theyre down a little this year but theyre better, Percy said. Were going to have to come out with intensity.
