GARNETT — Iola High’s season-opening six-game winning streak came to an abrupt halt Tuesday.
Anderson County took control early in game one of its doubleheader with the Mustangs, winning 11-1, before rallying in the sixth inning of the second game to win, 13-10.
“It was a tough night,” Iola head coach Ryan Latta said. “A very tough night.”
The opening defeat was decided almost immediately, as Anderson County scored five in the bottom of the first and three more in the second to lead, 8-0.
“They really squared up our pitching, and laid off our off-speed stuff,” Latta said.
The Bulldogs led 3-0 by the time Iola recorded its first out of the inning, and never looked back, spoiling a highly anticipated pitching showdown between the Mustangs’ Ryker Curry and Anderson County’s Derek Rockers.
Curry, in a rare off night, walked four and hit three batters in the face of a ferocious south wind that affected play for both teams from start to finish.
“That wind was howling,” Latta said. “I hate to make excuses. It was the same conditions for both teams. Ryker just couldn’t get his slider over the plate. They were ready and put the bat on the ball.”
Rockers had no such issues, striking out 10 and limiting the Mustangs to four hits.
“Their pitcher is one of the best in the state, and that makes it tough,” Latta said. “He was locating his fastball and getting his curveball over the plate.”
Iola’s run came in the third after TJ Taylor walked and scored on Jarrett Herrmann’s triple to make it 8-1.
But the Bulldogs responded with one in the fourth and two in the fifth to maintain control.
Herrmann added a single in his 2-for-3 night with an RBI. Brandon McKarnin added a double, and Landon Weide singled.
McKarnin came on in relief and surrendered two hits with three strikeouts.
THE NIGHTCAP featured a series of wild back-and-forth momentum swings before a two-out fielding error keyed Anderson County’s decisive rally.
Iola led 9-6 at the time, but the error, followed by back-to-back singles plated two. A hit batter put two runners on when the Bulldogs’ Dalton Kellerman smacked a long fly ball aided by the jet engine-force wind that cleared the center field fence for a three-run home run to put AC on top, 11-9. An error and single led to two more AC runs in the sixth.
