Matt Clark in with local sports, the Chillicothe Mudcats were beaten by the Carroll Merchants for the first time this season, losing at Historic Merchants Ballpark on Sunday afternoon by a final score of 9-2.
The star for the Merchants, on the day, was their starting pitcher, Caleb Tucker. After losing his first two starts against Chillicothe earlier in the season, the freshman from Dodge Community College pitched all nine innings for Carroll. He allowed just two runs on three hits, and retired 19 of the final 20 Mudcats batters down the stretch to help secure the win for the hosts. He also struck out nine Chillicothe batters in his appearance.
Carroll scored the opening two runs in the bottom of the first on two extra base hits, one of them being a triple, off of the Mudcats starting pitcher Jaydon Cabezuedo.
The Mudcats would get themselves back in the game, however, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third off of RBI base hits from Tanner Sears, and John Spoto. Elian Guzman and Rafael Calcano scored the runs for the Mudcats off of those base hits to tie the score at two runs apiece.
Tanner Sears’ RBI single gave him his 16th run batted in with 19 games played this season. John Spoto picked up hit number 12 on the season, and RBI number seven.
However, Carroll would retake the lead for good in the bottom of the third, scoring two more runs, one unearned, to make it 4-2. Three more runs in the bottom of the fifth extended the lead for Carroll, as Dylan Shepherd hit a two run home run in that frame.
After one Carroll run in the bottom of the sixth inning off of an RBI for Sammy Harris, who finished the day 4-5 with three runs scored, Cullen McBride also went deep for the Merchants, hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Carroll their ninth and final run of the day.
Carroll’s victory puts them ahead of the Mudcats in the MINK League standings, and Chillicothe falls to 9-13 on the season overall, 8-13 in the MINK, and 2-6 on the road. Chillicothe still leads the season series against the Merchants, holding a 4-1 record against the team from Iowa. The two sides will face each other two more times in the regular season, both in the early part of July.
The Mudcats will look to respond tonight by beating the Clarinda A’s for the first time this season. Clarinda is currently 3-0 against Chillicothe coming into the game. First pitch on what is expected to be a very hot Monday night will be at 7:05 p.m. You can catch the action of every Mudcats game this summer live on KCHI and on kchi.com.
