The American Legion Post 15 Indians jump back into the regular season after splitting a pair of games at the JC Lunceford Summer Showcase over the weekend in Topeka.
The Indians powered past Post 643 Kansas City in the opener, 11-3, and fell to the Kansas Senators Post 421 Topeka, 11-6, to wrap up the day.
They remain on the road Tuesday with a 6 p.m. first pitch at Pittsburg.
Iola featured four pitchers in the victory. Starter Ty Shaughnessy picked up the win despite exiting in the second inning. Outfielder Cole Mathes put the Indians on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the opening frame.
First baseman Grady Dougherty gave Post 15 a 2-0 advantage in the third inning with the first of his team-leading three RBIs and the Indians poured on the runs from there.
Post 643’s pitching woes began to take shape during a six-run fourth inning as a bases-loaded walk posted opened the floodgates.
After third baseman Easton Weseloh scored on a wild pitch, second baseman Blake Ellis gave Post 15 a 5-0 advantage on an RBI single. A Doughtery two-RBI, inside-the-park home run pushed their lead to 8-1. Mathes and Shaughnessy added three more runs on RBIs to give the Indians an insurmountable 11-2 lead.
Kale Pratt, coming on in relief in the third inning, tallied a team-leading four strikeouts. Ellis went a perfect 3 of 3 at-bats while Mathes and Dougherty had two hits each.
The Indians’ luck ran out against the Senators after struggling to escape a deep early-inning deficit.
A Dougherty homer put Post 15 up 2-0 in the opening frame, but the Senators responded with four runs in their first at-bat. Post 15 added another two runs in the second inning on grounders by Shaughnessy and catcher Dom Smith, then another Dougherty homer in the fifth inning, but it was not enough to keep up with the Senators.
Dougherty took the loss on the mound while tying reliever Gavin Jones for the team lead in strikeouts with three each. He also accounted for all but one of Post 15’s RBIs.
Following Friday’s action, Post 15 has a record of 2-2.
