The Chillicothe Mudcats dismantle the two-time defending MINK League Champion, St. Joseph Mustangs on Monday evening at Phil Welch Stadium in St. Joseph, Mo in the first round of the 2026 MINK League Playoffs.
Chillicothe had come into the ball game on a four-game losing streak and had lost their previous two games in run-rule fashion. St. Joe had won 15 of their 19 ball games to record in the month of July. St. Joe had also won five out of the six games in the regular season between the two, and all three at Phil Welch Stadium. The Mudcats were a big underdog heading into the ball game, but had an answer to that in the biggest way in the biggest game of the season against their rival.
St. Joe began the scoring in the bottom of the first inning with a pair of runs, and the Mustangs took an early 2-0 lead. That lead also stayed true for St. Joe through the second inning.
The Mudcats didn’t blink and began their explosive night at the plate in the third inning. That came from a three-run home run over the left field wall off the bat of Koby Wagers, 3-2 Mudcats after the top of the third.
St. Joe tied the ball game up at three apiece after they got a single run in the bottom of the third. 3-3, after three innings.
The fourth was scoreless, and the fifth inning is where the game took a dramatic turn in the favor of the Mudcats.
The Mudcats loaded the bases up on three free passes with one out to begin the inning. Alejandro Somaza knocked in the first run of the inning on a base hit to right field that plated Koby Wagers to give the Mudcats a 4-3 lead. The very next batter, Ryder McClain followed up Somaza’s hit to right with one of his own, this time plating two runs. Max Heintz and JP Gonzalez both scored on McClain base hit to make it 6-3 Mudcats. Later in the inning, Cole Adair hit a scorching double down the right field line on a hard-hit ground ball that hit off the first base bag, Somaza and McClain both scored on the play and the Mudcats led it 8-3 after that. Adair then scored after Jevon Raboy reached base on an error by the Mustangs, 9-3 Mudcats. The inning was capped off on a Max Heintz base hit that brought around Raboy, and the Mudcats led it 10-3 after the top of the fifth. A monstrous seven run inning for the Mudcats.
St. Joe scored a pair in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Mudcat lead to 10-5.
However, the Mudcats followed those two runs up with a run of their own in each of the top of the eighth and ninth innings. A Nick Blakeney triple into right center field in the top of the eighth scored Koby Wagers to make it 11-5 Mudcats, that score stayed true through eight innings. In the ninth, Jevon Raboy seared a single up the middle to score Rafael Calcaño and give the Mudcats a 12-5 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
St. Joe did get a run in the bottom of the ninth but that was all she wrote on the Mustangs season.
The Mudcats trounce the defending back-to-back MINK League Champions by a final score of 12-6 on Monday evening in the first round of the MINK League Playoffs.
Chillicothe lives to see another day, and advances to the Divisional Round of the MINK League Playoffs.
The Mudcats will travel to Clarinda, Iowa to take on the No. 1 seed Clarinda A’s on Tuesday evening at Eberly Field. First pitch on Tuesday evening is at 7:00 p.m. from Clarinda.