EMPORIA — The toughest part of any coach’s season is when it comes time to say goodbye to the senior class.
That task becomes even more difficult when that group of seniors has been special enough to lead your team to the state tournament. Iola baseball coach Mark Percy faced that challenge Thursday evening after his Mustangs fell to Nickerson, 8-1, in what will be Ben Cooper, Coleson Wiggin and Darius Greenawalt’s final game donning the blue and gold.
“The hardest part for me is losing seniors,” Percy said. “That is four years that you have spent hours and hours and hours with these guys and you build an incredible relationship with them. Then it is just like going cold turkey.
“Today we are planning on playing tomorrow, then today, it is just done. You don’t coach those guys anymore, they are done.”
The Mustangs got behind early when starting pitcher Derek Bycroft struggled with his command in the first inning.
The First Team All-State pitcher has been battling injury lately and was limited to relief duties in the team’s regional championship run last week. Although the sophomore was ready to go on Thursday, it seemed to require the first inning to knock off the rust.
Nickerson sophomore Tanner Schrag reached on a single to open the bottom of the first inning and Bycroft hit Kaleb Jackson to put two runners on for the dreaded middle of the Panther batting order.
Josh Salazar made Bycroft pay with a single that scored Schrag.
The control struggles continued for the young right-hander as he walked Panther junior Kolbi Schrag and then hit senior Braden Stewart with the bases loaded to make the score 2-0.
It appeared Iola’s state dreams might be dead in the water already with the two runs in and still no outs recorded in the first inning, but immediately Bycroft snapped back to form.
Bycroft struck out senior Austin Engelland, got senior Cam Crandell to pop out to Wiggin at first and struck out sophomore Chandler Eaton to strand the bases loaded and keep the Mustangs within striking distance.
“He did fine, because he didn’t have his best stuff,” Percy said. “The first two hits he gave up were on changeups that he left up at the letters, so he wasn’t comfortable with that. He also beamed a guy with a curveball. One thing about Derek though, he is going to compete, I will guarantee you that, and he did.”
Bycroft and Nickerson sophomore Carson Cornelius went back and forth with no-hit innings over the next two frames, until the Mustangs found their offense in the fourth inning.
It was Bycroft taking a pitch off his side to reach base to start the inning, then Wiggin advanced him to third with a sharply hit single.
Freshman Cal Leonard — the recently appointed clean-up hitter — lived up to his spot in the order with a single to score Bycroft and advance courtesy runner Zane Whitney — who was running for Wiggin — to second.
Just like that the deficit was cut to 2-1 and Iola had the go-ahead runner on base.
Junior catcher Ethan Tavarez seemed like he might have connected on a pitch to score that go-ahead run in the next at-bat. Tavarez sent a Cornelius delivery deep to right field, but Crandell was able to camp under it for the out.
On the basepaths, Whitney was not able to read that the ball would be caught and played it halfway down the line so he could score in the ball dropped, but get back if it was caught. The decision meant he was unable to tag up and get to third base with one out.
Now with one out and runners still on first and second, left fielder Kane Rogers came to the plate. The sophomore was the only Mustang to reach base on the first trip through the order, but was unable to replicate that success this time as he struck out.
Center fielder Isaac Vink jumped on the first delivery he saw from Cornelius with two outs, but couldn’t barrel it up and popped out to the catcher to end the Mustangs’ threat.
Despite the disappointment of only scoring the one run, the Mustangs still had the lead trimmed to just one run with plenty of baseball still to play and all the momentum.
That momentum quickly turned in the bottom of the fourth inning, despite the Panthers starting the frame with their 7-8-9 hitters.
Crandell opened the inning with a single, but Bycroft responded to strikeout Eaton for the first out of the inning.
Light-hitting second baseman Tre Garcia was the game’s next batter and grounded a ball softly to Wiggin, who whirled to throw to shortstop Cooper covering second to try and turn the inning-ending double play. The ball sailed behind Cooper though and into right field.
What appeared to be possibly the second and third out of the frame — or at the least, the second out — resulted in no outs and two runners on with the top of the Panther order up.
Bycroft plunked Tanner Schrag on the next pitch and the bases were loaded.
Bycroft was able to induce another ground ball to Wiggin on the following play, but the ball snuck under Wiggin’s glove and laid just behind him on the infield dirt. The senior could not pick the ball back up in time after bobbling it again and the speedy Jackson reach first safely to load the bases with still just one out and the heart of order due up.
“He has played so well all year,” Percy said of Wiggin. “Then to have that happen as a senior, that is tough.”
A wild pitch allowed Garcia to score and each runner to move up 90 feet.
Percy decided to walk Salazar to set up a force play at home and for a moment the decision paid off as Bycroft struck out Kolbi Schrag for the second out.
Stewart provided the final nail in the Mustang coffin a pitch later through, when the Panther shortstop lined a perfectly placed ball right field which got by Calvin Delich and allowed Stewart to race around the bases for an inside-the-park grand slam.
Bycroft ended the inning with a groundout on the next batter, but the damage had been done as six unearned runs had come around to score and the lead had ballooned from 2-1 to 8-1.
“It is tough to come back from that against a good team,” Percy said. “They made no errors and we had three.”
The Mustangs were unable to recover as they struggled to square up Cornelius. The sophomore mowed through the rest of the game with a Bycroft single being the only hit he allowed the rest of the way.
Cooper pitched the final two innings for the Mustangs and finished his career with a pair of no-hit frames.
“He had to spot some things and change speeds and he did a great job of that tonight,” Percy said of Cooper. “He pitched up to some guys and they bit.”
The offense could not threaten though and the 8-1 score became the final.
THE SENIORS
Cooper finished his career with his finest season yet and earned Second Team All-State recognition as a pitcher.
“He is a four-year guy,” Percy said. “He has always done what we ask him to do, but it seemed like he came to life this year and just enjoyed his year.”
The Mustangs’ No. 2 starter all season carried a 1.25 ERA in 50.1 innings pitched this season with 44 strikeouts and 15 walks.
“When you have success, you have confidence in everything and that is the way he pitched,” Percy said.
When Cooper wasn’t on the mound, he manned shortstop for the Mustangs with a consistent glove and was the leader of the team’s infield.
“We are definitely going to miss him,” Percy said. “Attitude-wise, he is huge on our team, he has a great attitude.”
Wiggin finished his season as one of only two Mustangs with a batting average over .300. The first baseman hit .322 and led the team with six extra-base hits including a home run.
“Early on, we moved him up into the three-hole, just to get him an extra at-bat or two, because he can hit,” Percy said. “I was talking to a college coach just the other day, who was asking about him. I told him that he can hit the ball and he said ‘I’ve seen him.’ He saw him at Independence hit a few rockets.”
Darius Greenawalt had a 1.50 ERA in his 9.1 innings pitched this season with a 1-0 record and one save.
“I just told Darius, that I knew he wanted to pitch and I had him warming up,” Percy said. “I went with Ben, who has pitched more this year. Darius pitched nine innings this year and considering how well he pitched, that is pretty tough. He is a great kid and I loved having him out here. He has improved so much even from last year.
“It makes me feel bad that we couldn’t use him more, but he also missed some time.”
BUDDING RIVALS
The Mustangs will go into next season with high hopes as they return seven starters and have Bycroft and Tavarez back to lead their rotation.
“In my opinion, I think we are going to be better,” Percy said. “That is tough to say, because Ben had such a good year and Coleson hit the ball so well, but I told them that if they want to get back to state we are going to put the work in.
“Some of it is mechanical work on their swings, but the whole group doesn’t have bad swings. It is just a few mechanical things that hurts them on the swing. I told them that they have to commit to getting better and probably play this summer, because if they don’t, they could get beat out.”
The Panthers will share in those high expectations next season. They have their top three pitchers back and return six starters, including the top four hitters in their lineup.
If the Mustangs are fortunate enough to make a return trip to the state tournament next year, there is a chance that Nickerson could once again join them in the bracket.
UP NEXT
Many of the Mustangs will join Humboldt stars Daylon Splane and Lance Daniels on the Iola Indians American Legion team which opens its season on Thursday in Chanute.
