The Chillicothe Mudcats, for the second night in a row, lose big to the St. Joseph Mustangs at Shaffer Park in Chillicothe.
The Mustangs jumped out in front in the top of the first and didn’t look back. They took the lead on a Brayden Luikart groundout to first which brought in Micah Kobuszewski to make it 1-0 right off the bat.
In the top of the third, the Mustangs manufactured another run thanks to a Mudcat miscue. Brayden Luikart hit a sky-high fly ball to left field that was dropped, and Micah Kobuszewski came around to score to make it 2-0.
After the top of the third, the scoreboard saw a plethora of zeros through the middle innings as both offenses went quiet, and the game followed on at a brisk pace through much of the middle portion.
That was, until the seventh inning when St. Joe threw up a crooked number. A string of hits in the inning throughout the Mustang order, and a host of wild pitches as well allowed the Mustangs to plate five runs and take a 7-0 lead after the top of the seventh.
The Mustangs then piled it on in the top of the eighth. Another long string of hits by St. Joe and a few Mudcat defensive miscues gave the Mustangs another glaring five spot on the scoreboard and they led it 12-0 after the top of the eighth.
St. Joe’s 12 runs came on 12 hits. The Mudcats also committed three defensive errors.
Chillicothe got a single run across in the bottom of the eighth, Ryder McClain scored after Slater Hooke was caught in a rundown between first and second, the Mustangs focused on Hooke in the rundown, which allowed McClain to cross the plate and spoil the shutout. That made the score 12-1, and that was also the final score on Tuesday evening.
The Mudcats are run-ruled for the second straight night and lose five out of six games against St. Joe in the regular season. Chillicothe also drops to 9-19 on the season.
The Mudcats return to action on Wednesday with a doubleheader against the Nevada Griffons at Shaffer Park. First pitch of game one will be at 5:05 p.m. The second game will follow the conclusion of the first. Both games will be seven innings.