The remarkable success on the baseball diamond translated to another armload of postseason accolades for Iola High and Crest High. Three from Iola and four from Crest earned first-team all-state honors from Sports In Kansas, a statewide news service covering high school athletics.
Iola went 16-5 on the season, winning the Class 4A regionals to advance to the state tournament since the 2018 squad won the 4A-II state title, which led to first-team honors for a familiar trio, Jarrett Herrmann, Brandon McKarnin and Ryker Curry.
Herrmann and McKarnin both hit a whopping .544, breaking Calvin Delich’s 2019 mark of .533.
Herrmann, batting in the leadoff spot, had 31 hits, including a team-high six triples and two home runs. He stole 13 bases.
McKarnin also had 31 hits and eight doubles with 33 RBIs and a 1.332 OPS.
Curry wasn’t far behind. He hit.424 with 26 RBIs and a 1.109 OPS. In his brief work on the mound, Curry went 4-1 with a 2.85 ERA striking out 29 batters over 19 innings before an arm injury curtailed his pitching.
CREST’S unbeaten run up to the Class 2-1A State Tournament and a fourth-place finish, led to Sports in Kansas declaring Stetson Setter the co-Class 2-1A player of the year, on top of his first-team all-state honor. He was joined on the first team with Holden Barker, Jack White and Trevor Church.
Their accomplishments also led to a special recognition for Lancer head coach Roland Weir, who was named co-Class 2-1A coach of the year.
Setter hit at a .527 (39 of 74) clip with 45 runs and 51 RBIs. He also led the Lancers with six home runs and four triples. Setter, who earned all-state recognition last year as an outfielder, also clubbed six doubles and stole 19 bases, while ranking second on the team with 45 runs scored. Setter was equally dominant on the mound, going 5-0 with a 1.73 ERA, striking out 56 batters over 28 innings, and limiting opponents to a .111 batting average.
Barker, meanwhile, hit at a .455 clip to earn honors as a designated hitter. He drove in 28, while going 30 of 66, with three home runs, five doubles and two triples. He also led Crest with 47 runs scored and 24 stolen bases.
Church’s dominance on the mound and in the outfield netted him two state honors. He was named second-team all-state for his pitching, courtesy of his 8-0 record and 0.74 ERA. He struck out 85 batters over 47 innings, and allowed five earned runs all season. Opposing batters hit a measly .156 against the lefty. When not on the mound, Church shined in center field, where he earned honorable mention all-state recognition. For the season, Church hit .395 with 30 hits in 76 at bats, while driving in 19 and scoring 37 runs. He also stole 20 bases, good for second on the team.
Meanwhile, White batted .412 (35 of 35), while scoring 33 runs and driving in 30. He also clubbed nine doubles and was a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen base attempts, and was another arm in Crest’s deep stable of pitchers. White struck out 24 batters over 20 innings, while compiling a 1.73 ERA.
SPORTS IN KANSAS recognized several other baseball standouts, including Iola’s Korbin Cloud, who earned second-team all-state honors.
Cloud went 8-1 with a 1.91 ERA, striking out 57 batters over 47 innings. He also went a span of three games without allowing a hit to wrap up regionals action.
Iola’s Landon Weide, meanwhile, earned honorable mention for the all-state team. The sophomore batted .323 with an .897 OPS while scoring 29 runs and stealing 11 bases.
THREE HUMBOLDT players, Trey Sommer, Kaiden Barnett and Logan Page, earned honorable mention All Class 3A state recognition by Sports in Kansas.
