It wasn’t always pretty, but the Iola American Legion AA Indians kept up their winning ways Friday, amid the busiest portion of their schedule.
The Indians capped a whirlwind week by winning their fifth game in four days — and third in an 18-hour stretch.
Iola thumped Louisburg Friday morning in the opening round of the Allen Community College Red Devil Classic, 10-1. That came after the Indians swept a doubleheader at Wellsville, 9-7 and 10-5.
The victories keep the Indians spotless on the season at 13-0.
The busy pace continues today and Sunday as Iola wraps up the tournament. The Indians take on the NLB 18’s, an academy squad from the Kansas City area. First pitch is at 12:30 p.m. at the ACC baseball diamond.
The tournament wraps up Sunday afternoon at 3 o’clock against Humboldt’s 18-and-under Babe Ruth League squad. Humboldt, which opened tournament play Friday with an 8-2 win over a squad out of Kansas City, plays the Girard American Legion squad this morning at 10.
THE INDIANS had things on cruise control against Louisburg, scoring in all four innings it batted.
Braden Larson’s two-run single in the first scored Levi Ashmore and Mason Coons before Ashmore’s bad-hop single up the middle scored two more in the second.
Nathan Whitcomb got into the act in the third, with an RBI single to knock in Drew Faulhaber.
The floodgates opened in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of three Louisburg errors and two walks. The Indians scored four without courtesy of a hit.
The runs were more than plenty for starter Trent Latta and Larson in relief.
Latta shut down Louisburg on three hits in his four innings of work. He walked one and struck out six. Larson pitched a scoreless fourth without allowing a hit. He walked two and struck out one.
Offensively, Ashmore went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Larson had three RBIs on his two-run single and a sacrifice fly. Faulhaber, Aaron Barclay and Whitcomb each had a single.
THINGS WEREN’T as smooth one night earlier in Wellsville.
Iola opened a 7-1 lead in the opener before Wellsville rallied to score six in the bottom of the fifth to tie the score and force extra innings.
The game went 10 innings. Whitcomb’s leadoff double in the 10th, followed by an error by the Wellsville center fielder led to Trent Latta’s sacrifice fly to break the tie. Derrick Weir’s single two batters later drove in the second run.
The rally followed a frustrating evening for the Indians. After plating seven runs in the second inning, Jarred Latta had a run-scoring single. Tyler Clubine’s single four batters later scored two more. Ashmore singled to drive in one. Trent Latta got an RBI for a bases-loaded walk, and Coons smacked a single to drive in two, capping the scoring.
The runs gave the win to Whitcomb, who pitched four scoreless innings of relief, allowing only one hit with nine strikeouts.
Clubine got the start, allowing six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out two. Jacob Rhoads replaced Clubine on the mound, allowing one hit in 1 1/3 innings of work. He struck out one.
Ashmore, Coons, Jarred Latta, Faulhaber, Barclay and Clubine each had two singles in Iola’s 15-hit attack.
Whitcomb doubled, while Weir and Larson singled once.
The Indians couldn’t plate any runs in innings 3 through 9 despite putting runners in scoring position in every frame but one. Iola stranded 16 runners — 10 in scoring position.
THINGS were a bit more efficient in the 10-5 win. The Indians scored five in the first — a bases-loaded walk by Weir drove in the first run. Trent Latta scored on an error, then Barclay’s single cleared the bases.
Wellsville responded with three in the bottom of the inning before Weir and Jarred Latta drove in runs with singles to give the Indians a 7-3 lead. Wellsville responded with two more to close the gap to 7-5.
A walk, error and single by Drew Faulhaber led to Eric Heffern’s RBI ground ball in the top of the third. Ashmore followed with an RBI single to put Iola on top, 9-5.
Coons singled to lead off the fourth and later scored on Larson’s sac fly.
Faulhaber got the start, allowing three hits and three walks in two innings to get the win. He struck out one. Ashmore followed with three scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit with six strikeouts.
Weir went 2-for-2, while Ashmore, Coons, Jarred Latta, Rhoads, Barclay and Faulhaber each had singles.
