Another masterful pitching performance has Iola’s AA American Legion squad on the cusp of another trip to the state tournament to defend its 2012 state championship. IOLA’S OFFENSE found its stride the second day back after a nine-day layoff. IOLA (35-3) will play at 8 o’clock tonight at the Allen Community College diamond against either Osawatomie or Fort Scott, who will face off at 6 in an elimination game. Fort Scott advanced to the consolation finals by scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh of a 6-5 win over Garnett.
The Post 15 Indians rode the right arm of Nathan Whitcomb to a 9-0 win over Osawatomie Wednesday in the semifinals of the AA Zone 3 Tournament.
Whitcomb struck out 11 in his five-inning no-hitter, allowing Osawatomie to put four balls in play. Only one Osawatomie player — leadoff hitter Austin Chisam — was able to hit the ball out of the infield.
“I can’t say enough about Nathan’s pitching tonight,” Iola head coach Roland Weir said. “He’s pitched better in his last three starts than he has all season long.”
Whitcomb entered the game, mind you, with a 7-1 record and a 1.44 earned run average.
“I could tell pretty early I had command of my pitches tonight,” Whitcomb said, deflecting the praise to Iola assistant coach Bruce Faulhaber, who has worked with the pitchers through the summer. “Bruce has been doing a good job on making adjustments.”
Levi Ashmore again was a catalyst, blasting a leadoff triple for the second straight game to set up the Indians’ first run.
A leadoff walk to Trent Latta in the third led to Mason Coons’ sacrifice fly, putting Iola on top 2-0. Whitcomb aided his own cause three batters later with a two-run single on a 3-2 count with two outs.
“Nathan’s hit was big,” Weir said. “We missed a couple of early opportunities, but that got us going, and then we started getting production up and down the lineup.”
Three straight walks and an error turned into a five-run fourth inning. Coons had another sac fly, while Derick Weir and Braden Larson smacked RBI singles.
The closest Osawatomie came to scoring was in the top of the second when Whitcomb walked the leadoff batter and hit another player with one out. He promptly struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
Whitcomb struck out nine of the final 12 batters of the game.
“Both are quality teams,” Roland Weir said. “We aren’t going to take anybody for granted.”
In Iola’s favor is that the Indians still have two front-line pitchers, Coons and Trent Latta, fully rested.
“Getting Nathan on this team really helped fill out our pitching staff,” Weir said. “We have four quality starters I’m not afraid to put out there at any time.”
“We’ve said all along that we don’t think anybody can beat us twice,” Whitcomb said, noting Iola would have to lose tonight and Friday to fall short of the state tournament. “We’re exactly where we want to be.”
Iola 9, Osawatomie 0
Osawatomie AB R H BI
Austin Chisam 2 0 0 0
Mitch Elam 2 0 0 0
Jake Bradley 2 0 0 0
Dustin Ohlmeier 1 0 0 0
Adam Pryor 1 0 0 0
Chase Brown 1 0 0 0
Jake Allen 1 0 0 0
Trae Clayton 1 0 0 0
Morgan Roth 1 0 0 0
Ben Dorsett 1 0 0 0
Michael Pursley 1 0 0 0
Andy Blanton 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 15 0 0 0
Iola AB R H BI
Levi Ashmore 2 2 1 0
Trent Latta 1 2 0 0
Mason Coons 1 0 0 2
Derrick Weir 1 2 1 2
Jarred Latta 3 1 2 0
Braden Larson 3 1 2 1
Nathan Whitcomb 3 0 1 2
Drew Faulhaber 0 1 0 0
Tyler Clubine 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 15 9 7 7
Osawatomie 000 00 — 0
Iola 103 5x—9
Osawatomie IP H R ER BB SO
Dustin Ohlmeier (L) 3 5 5 5 5 1
Jake Allen 0 0 2 2 2 0
Trae Clayton 1 2 2 0 0 1
Iola
Nathan Whitcomb (W) 5 0 0 0 2 11
LOB — Osawatomie 3, Iola 4. 2B — J. Latta, Larson. 3B — Ashmore. HBP — Brown. SACF — Coons (2), Weir.
Indians one step closer to state
