Iola’s AA American Legion squad saw its 13-game winning streak come to an end Saturday. A PAIR OF three-run rallies in the third and fourth innings sparked the NLB 18s, an academy squad out of the Kansas City area. HUMBOLDT’S four-run first inning was more than enough for starting pitcher Grayson Pearish.
The Post No. 15 Indians rallied after twice trailing by three runs to the Next Level Baseball 18s.
But the rally fell one run short, with the tying run on first base, in a 6-5 loss.
The defeat was the Indians’ first of the season, coming in the rain-shortened Allen Community College Red Devil Classic.
Torrential rains cut short Saturday’s game and forced the cancellation of Sunday’s contests.
In earlier action Saturday, the Humboldt Heat, an 18-and-under Babe Ruth League squad, thumped Girard, 9-1. Sunday’s rainouts erased an Indians-Heat matchup.
Iola’s schedule picks back up Tuesday and Thursday as the Indians host West Franklin and Girard, respectively. Iola heads to Burlington for a tournament Saturday and Sunday.
The Indians trailed 3-0 in the top of the fourth before Braden Larson drilled an RBI single to drive in Derrick Weir.
Tyler Clubine followed three batters later with a two-run double to tie the score.
But back-to-back doubles by NLB led to three more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
The Indians gained a run back when Eric Heffern was hit by a pitch in the top of the fifth. He eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Weir led off the sixth with a single. He also came around to score on a wild pitch before Aaron Barclay drilled a single.
But NLB’s Brennan Rollen induced a strikeout to end the inning — and Iola’s last scoring opportunity, as it turned out. Storms arrived in the bottom of the sixth, forcing the game to be called.
Mason Coons was saddled with the loss. He allowed six hits and a walk in four innings with five strikeouts. Trent Latta came on in relief, allowing a hit in 1 2/3 innings of work.
Clubine went 2-for-3 with a double. Weir and Barclay singled twice. Larson had a single.
The Heat were aided by two walks and two hit batters in the inning. Jacob Carpenter’s bases-loaded walk, followed by Pearish’s RBI, courtesy of a hit-by-pitch with the bases juiced, gave Humboldt a 2-0 lead. Kason Siemens doubled the advantage with a two-run single.
Siemens doubled in another run in the third, just ahead of Austin Beeman’s run-scoring single to push the Heat on top 6-0.
Siemens collected his third straight hit — scoring Humboldt’s seventh and eighth runs, overall — with a two-run double in the fourth. He wound up going 3-for-3 with one run and five RBIs. Hunter Murrow singled twice, while Caleb Vanatta and Beeman each had a single.
Pearish, meanwhile, shut down Girard on two hits over five innings of work. He struck out five.
Indians’ winning streak ends
