The Iola Mustangs extended their win streak to six games while mercy-ruling the Osawatomie Trojans in Tuesday’s doubleheader, 11-0 and 11-1.
Iola steadily increased the temperature over both contests until senior Nick Bauer sealed the sweep by rounding the bases with a dropped third strike followed by multiple fielding errors.
“This was the first doubleheader where we handled business in both games,” Iola coach Lane Johnson said. “The past few doubleheaders, we put it to teams in game one only to come out in game two kind of sluggish. We ran all over them. It was good.”
Junior pitcher Kale Pratt picked up the win in the opener. He tallied six strikeouts while allowing just two hits over four innings before handing the mound to freshman closer Brodie Emerson, who posted a pair of strikeouts for the save.
As Pratt went to work on the mound, junior outfielder Jase Herrmann, junior third baseman Austin Crooks and sophomore outfielder Reed Clift went to work in the batter’s box.
Leading 6-0 before the fourth inning, the Mustangs nearly doubled their leadwith a five-run fourth inning before Emerson and the defense closed it out.
Crooks, Clift and Herrmann had a pair of RBIs each. Clift and junior third baseman Roy Gordon were perfect in the batter’s box, hitting 2 of 2 at-bats. Clift, who also had a team-leading two RBIs in the nightcap, credited his recent success to adjustments to his swing. “There is more to come. At the start of the year I was really struggling,” Clift said. “I was leaning on my front foot a lot. I’ve been getting more confident and I’m able to stay level and have a more level swing path.”
A four-run opening frame in the nightcap gave Iola early control. From there they scored seven more for a final score of 11-1.
Starting senior pitcher Tre Wilson threw an 11-strikeout no-hitter.
“Everything was working really well, and I did not have to throw much off-speed,” said Wilson, crediting his freedom on the mound to Pratt, who was serving as catcher.
“It was just fastball-fastball-fastball. It’s amazing. I’m able to feel free and throw it as hard as I want with Kale catching. He keeps everything in front of him and it’s really nice.”
Along with Clift’s team-leading two hits and two RBIs, Herrmann, Gordon and senior outfielder Jakoby Hill registered one RBI each. 
With the win, the Mustangs improved to 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the Pioneer League.
The Mustangs will head into the paddock for a week-long break. Stepping away from the Pioneer League, they have a three-game week ahead of them starting with hosting Parsons for a Tuesday doubleheader, then heading to Girard Thursday and staying on the road Friday while facing Emporia.
“It’s a busy week next week, it’s going to be big,” Coach Johnson said. “We’ll take it easy the rest of this week, and still get some swings in. It will be nice to keep our arms fresh because we’ll have three games in four days and face at least two really good teams.”
