GARNETT — Iola’s AA American Legion baseball team’s offense roared to life in a doubleheader sweep against Garnett Tuesday night. The first game of the night featured much more gamesmanship in the 6-5 Indians’ win.
“That kid from earlier (for Garnett) threw well. But, for whatever reason, we’ve been struggling to hit with aluminum bats,” coach Roland Weir said. “Maybe it’s something in our head, but hitting’s contagious – the second game it showed.”
Iola got on the board early off a triple from Caleb Vanatta in the first inning, which scored two runs. Garnett’s offense answered back in the second inning, scoring two runs on a double to take a 3-2 lead after some confusion. Before the double, Iola turned a double play and the players walked off the field thinking they had three outs. They didn’t, so they had to come back onto the field to finish the inning, which is when the double happened.
Derrick Weir came up to bat with two outs and gave the Indians the lead with a two-RBI bloop-single that landed in shallow centerfield. Vanatta followed with a double, that scored Weir. Iola now lead 5-3. In the top of the third, it looked like the Indians were going to have a big inning after the first two batters got on base.
Instead, Garnett pulled off one of the rarest plays in baseball — a triple play. After hitting a laser directly into the pitcher’s glove, both runners were going on contact and had ran-to-far-off their prospective base. So, a throw to second base and a throw to first base ended the inning on one play.
In the fourth inning, Weir hit an RBI-single and Garnett answered back with a solo home run. Iola would hold a 6-4 lead until the bottom of the seventh. After an RBI-single, Iola’s lead was 6-5. With a dropped ball, the Garnett base runner made his way to second base, putting him 180 feet away from tying the game. Instead, a groud out to Latta at third base ended the game, 6-5 Iola.
Alex Murrow started the game, and ended it, pitching all seven innings. He gave up five runs, with only two runs being earned. He gave up seven hits and two walks, striking out four.
“We’ve thrown nine kids this year, out of the 12 that we have and that’s a plus,” coach Weir said. “You can never have enough pitching.”
Vanatta and Weir led the offense, each producing three RBIs. Vanatta was 2-for-3 with a double and triple. Weir had two base hits. Hunter Murrow, Drew Faulhaber and Caleb D’Armond each had one single.
VANATTA AND WEIR again led the Indian offense in a game two smackdown. Really, everyone hit during the 19-0 blow-out.
“All the kids hit extremely well,” coach Weir said. “We’ve been waiting for them to do that the last 15 games.”
Weir got things started off with an RBI-single in the first inning, giving Iola a modest 1-0 lead. The second inning ex–tended that lead — by 16 runs.
After a combination of walks, singles and errors, the Indians scored three runs. Weir roped a triple to left center, scoring two runs. Vanatta knocked him in with an RBI-single. Grayson Pearish followed with an RBI-double. Alex Murrow got in on the action with an RBI-single. Eric Heffern hit an RBI-single. Hunter Murrow had an RBI-single. With the bases loaded, Trent Latta drew an RBI from a walk. That’s when Vanatta put an exclamation point on the inning with a grand slam. The Indians led 17-0 after two.
Weir hit another RBI-single in the third inning, which really could have been a stand-up double, but he did the right thing and stopped at first. Another run would score on an error. After Garnett failed to put anything on the board, the Indians won the game 19-0.
Drew Faulhaber got the win, pitching all three innings. He didn’t give up any hits or walks, striking out four.
