The Iola Post 15 19U Indians swept the Ottawa Post 60 Arrows 15-11 and 10-3 Thursday at ACC’s Alumni Field.
After opening Thursday’s doubleheader in an 8-0 deficit, the Indians eventually found their footing for the sweep.
“This team, we’re capable of putting up a lot of runs,” Iola coach T.J. Taylor said. “I knew we weren’t out of it. As long as we stay together as a team, we can put up a lot of runs.”
The Indians seemed to benefit from a career performance by pitcher Gavin Jones, who tallied nine strikeouts after coming on during the second inning.
“I knew I had my team. I was just wishing I could do more with batting on my part,” Jones said. “I batted once the entire regular season (in high school). Coming in here, it was a bit of a struggle, so I’m going to have to get back to work.”
As Jones kept the damage to just three more runs through the next six innings, outfielder Easton Weseloh kickstarted the Indians offense with a two-RBI grounder in the third inning. Shortstop Austin Crooks brought the score to 9-4 with a two-RBI single.
“We had energy from scoring runs, people caught on to it and we just kept doing it,” Weseloh said.
Iola continued chipping away at Ottawa’s lead with RBIs from catcher Dominic Smith, outfielder Cole Mathes and Weseloh until an RBI single by third baseman Ty Shaughnessy tied them 9-9 in the fifth inning. The Indians took their first lead of the evening after Shaugnessy and second baseman Henry White scored on a catcher’s error, then Mathes gave Iola an insurmountable 13-9 lead with an RBI.
Jones picked up the win while Weseloh tied Mathes, Shaughnessy and Crooks for the team-lead in RBIs with two each. Shortstop Tyler Lord had a team-leading three hits and he was far from done for the night after the opener.
Mathes picked up the win in the five-inning finale after tallying six strikeouts over three innings with Smith coming in to tally a pair of strikeouts over two innings. As the pitchers did their jobs, the Indians’ bats did not come alive until a seven-run third inning, then three more in the fourth for a 10-3 victory.
Lord tied Mathes for the team lead in RBIs with two each, but his five total hits on the day provided Iola a bit of hope in times of despair throughout the evening.
“It was just momentum. Once I got one hit it was contagious for the whole team,” Lord said.
