The Chillicothe Mudcats took down the Carroll Merchants in a barnburner of a game on Saturday evening at Shaffer Park, and get the win in front of a packed out crowd on the 25th anniversary celebration weekend.
The Merchants struck first with two runs in the top of the first to begin things Saturday evening. Drew Owen grounded out to second base, and Sam Weller scored on the play. 1-0 Merchants three batters in. Later in the inning, Braylen Nystrom hit a sacrifice fly to left field which scored Martin Smith and the Merchants led it 2-0 early on.
The Mudcats answered right back in the bottom of the first. Jevon Raboy scored the first run for Chillicothe in the ball game on a balk, 2-1 Merchants. Later in the inning, Clayton Eskra recorded an RBI hit-by-pitch which brought home Jordi Ventura to tie it up at 2, and Canon Creason hit an infield single that brought in Ryder McClain. The Mudcats led 3-2 after an exhilarating first inning.
The Merchants answered right back in the top of the second, a Mudcat error allowed Jaxson Book to score and tie it up at 3 a piece after an inning and a half. However, Chillicothe went right back to work in the bottom of the second. Jevon Raboy crossed the plate again for the Mudcats on a Jordi Ventura base hit to make it 4-3, and Slater Hooke also scored in the inning after he stole third base, and was able to take home plate after the throw down trickled into left field, 5-3 Mudcats after two.
Chillicothe tallied another run in the third, a Taydem Hashimoto sacrifice fly to right field gave the Mudcats a 6-3 lead after three innings.
There was no scoring again until the bottom of the sixth inning. Also, in the midst of the middle innings, Mudcat pitcher, Koby Wagers, set down 11 straight Merchants at one point.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jevon Raboy scored his third run of the night after another error by the Carroll defense, a passed ball allowed Raboy to make it 7-3. Another passed ball allowed Jordi Ventura to come around to make it 8-3. To cap things off in the inning, Slater Hooke came around on a wild pitch to make it 9-3.
Just as it looked like the Mudcats were going to cruise to an easy victory, the Merchants put a halt to that really quickly. Alex Draper singled in Austin Andersen to make it 9-4, and Draper later came around to score on a Mudcat error, and the Mudcat lead was cut to 9-5 after seven innings.
The Merchants really made it interesting in the top of the eighth. Drew Owen crossed the dish to make it a three-run game on a wild pitch to begin things for Carroll, 9-6 Chillicothe. Later in the inning, Alex Draper hit a sacrifice fly to right field, and that brought home Maverick DeVeau to make it 9-7. Then, Carter Storti laced a base hit into left-center field to score Austin Andersen, and the Merchants cut the lead to one, 9-8 Mudcats. Logan Arbuckle for Chillicothe got a lineout of Sam Weller to center field to end the inning, and that stranded the tying and go-ahead runs on second and third base.
That 9-8 Mudcat lead held true into the top of the ninth. The Merchants got a runner on first base in the inning, but Mudcat closer, Logan Arbuckle, got Jack Luthren to ground into a game-ending, 4-6-3 double play, and the Mudcats won an absolute nailbiter of a ball game on Saturday evening by the final score of 9-8.
The Mudcats improve to 6-14 on the season, and have now won three games in-a-row, and four of their last five contests.
Chillicothe will wrap up their six game homestand on Sunday against the St. Joseph Mustangs before having some time off in the coming week. First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. at Shaffer Park. Also, Sunday afternoon is the final game of the 25th anniversary celebration weekend of the Chillicothe Mudcats.