The Chillicothe Mudcats were victorious on Saturday night with a 7-6 win at home over the Warren County Cropdusters in six innings. The game was called early in the top of the seventh, with two outs, due to inclement weather.
The Mudcats started on the back foot in this one, as Warren County scored two runs off of two hits in the top of the third inning, but left the bases loaded. Chillicothe starting pitcher, Jordan Marlott, would work out of the jam by striking out three batters in the frame. He finished with nine strikeouts in his 4.2 innings of work, the most strikeouts by a Mudcats starter in a game this season.
The Mudcats turned the tide in the bottom half of the frame by taking advantage of their opportunity. The scored six runs, taking advantage of three Warren County errors in the inning. They also used two infield bunt singles, a 2-RBI double from Tanner Sears and an RBI single by Noboru Shinohara to build their advantage.
Warren County would get all of their runs back in the top of the fifth. Three hits for the Cropdusters, along with two batters being hit by a pitch by Marlott, made the score 6-6, but the Cropdusters would strand two more runners in the inning. They left nine runners on the base pads in the six inning game.
Then, in the bottom of the fifth, Elian Guzman reached on a double with one out, and scored on a Peyton Becker single. That hit from Becker meant that was the 13th straight game where Becker registered a hit as a starter. Little did Becker know, that single would end up turning into the winning hit.
Samir Lopez (who ended up being credited with the win) would pitch a scoreless sixth, and was on his was to a strong seventh inning before the game was initially delayed due to lightning. After 15 minutes, the game was officially called, as six innings was long enough to be considered a full game in the MINK League.
Chillicothe now holds an 8-12 record in the MINK League, and a 9-12 record overall, and Warren County drops to 7-14. The Mudcats move into fifth place in the MINK League standings, as they work to maintain a position in the MINK League playoff places.
The Mudcats now have a quick turnaround and make their longest road trip of the season up to Carroll, Iowa, to face the Merchants on Sunday afternoon. They’ll attempt to beat Carroll for the fifth time in five tries, and visit Historic Merchants Ballpark for the first time since the opening day of the season, where the Mudcats pitching staff threw a combined no hitter.
It’s an early start time for the Mudcats on Sunday, with first pitch on the way at 4:00 p.m. Tune in to some Sunday afternoon baseball, along with every other Mudcats game this season on KCHI and on kchi.com.
