The Chillicothe Mudcats stunned the No. 1 seed Clarinda A’s in the Divisional Round (semifinals) of the MINK League Playoffs on Tuesday evening at Eberly Field in Clarinda, Iowa.
Another upset victory for the Mudcats on Tuesday evening, this time against the 30-win Clarinda A’s and the top seed in the MINK League. Also, just like Monday for the Mudcats, on the road in a place where they had not won all season long.
It was a pitcher’s duel on Tuesday evening and an absolute nailbiter in Clarinda with a bid to the championship series on the line.
The first three innings were quick, scoreless frames for both offenses. Tuesday’s starting pitcher’s, Koby Wagers for the Mudcats, and Clay Hedges for the A’s both settled into the ball game quickly and worked in dominant fashion.
The scoreboard stayed packed with zeros until the top of the fourth inning where the Mudcats got a run to take the lead. Canon Creason hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Jevon Raboy to make it 1-0 Mudcats.
The ball game remained as a 1-0 Mudcat lead through the rest of the middle innings. That was, until the top of the eighth when the Mudcats added to their lead. Nick Blakeney laced a double into the right-center field gap, that brought home Ryder McClain to make it 2-0 Mudcats.
Clarinda would not go down without a fight, though.
The A’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth for leadoff hitter, Sean Bazmore, with two outs. Bazmore chopped a weakly hit ground ball up the middle that hit the lip of the infield grass and took a nasty hop on Mudcat shortstop, Rafael Calcaño. The ball rolled into left field, and two runs scored on the play tying the game up at 2 apiece.
The Mudcats then retook the lead in the top of the ninth inning, a wild pitch from Brady Laubscher allowed JP Gonzalez to trot home and give the Mudcats a 3-2 lead.
The Mudcats got a 1-2-3 inning of Clarinda in the bottom of the ninth and complete the massive upset of the top-seeded team in the MINK League by a final score of 3-2.
A game where the Mudcats got out of jam after jam. Clarinda had runners in scoring position in six different innings, but Chillicothe buckled down in every big moment.
The Mudcats advance to the MINK League Championship Series after completing two colossal upset victories in back-to-back nights. One against the defending back-to-back MINK League Champions, and the other against the No. 1 seed and regular season champs.
The Mudcats will square off with the Joplin Jailbirds in the best-of-3 MINK League Championship Series beginning on Thursday evening. Game 1 of the series will be at Shaffer Park in Chillicothe with first pitch still TBD. Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3 will be played in Joplin.