The Iola Mustangs baseball team was not happy with how they performed on Tuesday in Garnett when they managed only a split against Anderson County.
They didn’t hold back after the game expressing their disappointment.
Well, words are one thing. On Thursday, they showed that Tuesday’s loss may wind up being just a blip on the radar on the path to another Pioneer League championship and hopefully a state tournament appearance.
The top of the Mustang pitching staff stepped to the forefront against Prairie View and ensued the ship was righted in Riverside Park.
“They have pitched pretty dang good all year, but the game in Anderson County, Derek (Bycroft) didn’t pitch very well and neither did Ben (Cooper),” Iola coach Mark Percy said. “Both of them got after it today though.
“I think it was more about attitude and intensity. We just weren’t there at Anderson County, but they came out to win today.”
In game one, Bycroft — who was unhappy with his performance in the team’s loss on Tuesday — rose to the occasion.
Bycroft took the start in game one on one full day’s rest and sat down the first 16 batters he faced.
“I really wanted to redeem myself because on Tuesday night, I had a rough first inning and let them get out to a quick lead,” Bycroft said. “This game, I didn’t want to let that happen. I jumped on them early and got some first-pitch outs and tried to pound the zone.”
The sophomore did hit a batter in the fourth inning, but a line-out to Cooper — the shortstop — who doubled the runner off of second base, erased that and made sure Bycroft still faced the minimum.
Bycroft’s no-hit bid was broken up in the sixth inning one a one-out base hit, but Bycroft finished his complete game with just the one hit allowed and seven strikeouts while giving up no walks and hitting one batter.
Bycroft also had plenty of run support with the Mustangs run-ruling the Buffalos 10-0 in six innings.
They jumped on Prairie View early with three runs in the first inning and Calvin Delich, Bycroft and Ethan Tavarez all scoring.
The Mustang offense got rolling again in the third inning with five runs. Coleson Wiggin, Tavarez, Cal Leonard, Kane Rogers and Ben Cooper all crossed plate with Cooper and Delich each having big two-out singles.
In the sixth inning, Tavarez has a two-run “walk-off” single to run-rule the game, 10-0.
GAME TWO
While Bycroft was brilliant in game one, Cooper was all that and maybe more in the second game, considering the situation.
If it wasn’t for Prairie View’s Seth Vanderenter, Cooper would have been flirting was a perfect game in Iola’s 1-0 victory at Riverside Park on Thursday.
“You always like to get more runs, but when you can’t get them, you need to find a way to win,” Cooper said. “I don’t go out there trying to blow it by everybody. I have to use my defense a lot so when they help me out that is huge.”
Vanderenter was 2-for-2 with two doubles and other than that Cooper was flawless with the only other ‘hit’ coming on a ball that wasn’t actually hit, but ruled catcher’s interference and technically charged Cooper with a hit allowed.
All in all, Cooper threw six innings, allowed three hits and no walks with four strikeouts and was able to accomplish all that while only throwing 57 pitches.
“Everybody likes strikeouts and stuff, but when you are coaching, you like pitch counts so when you can have a three- or four-pitch inning, I’m all for it,” Percy said. “It saves his arm and the defense is in the game because the ball is being hit to them. I’ll take that all day.”
The Mustangs got the game-winning run early with Bycroft reaching on an error and scoring on an RBI single from Wiggin in the first inning.
Leonard pitched the ninth to get the save. He too allowed a hit to Vanderenter, but was able to work around it for a scoreless frame.
UP NEXT
Iola hosts Osawatomie on Tuesday will huge game with Pioneer League standings implications. They are two of the top contenders for the league title. Iola currently has two league losses while Osawatomie has just one.
“To me, we had to win two games today,” Percy said. “Bottom line, it wasn’t pretty and it was 1-0 but that was a big win for us, because now we go Osawatomie and they are 5-1 and leading the league, so we have to do something.”
