The Chillicothe Mudcats had their best win of the season earlier this week, when they won in walk-off fashion at home against the St. Joseph Mustangs on Wednesday. On Friday evening, they felt the frustration and disappointment of being on the losing side of a walk off.
The Mudcats fell in extra innings to the Clarinda A’s in a road game that was rescheduled from a rainout last week. The game finished 6-5 in Clarinda’s favor after eight innings, as the game was scheduled to be played in seven innings due to Clarinda playing another 7-inning game after their matchup with Chillicothe.
The Mudcats made a fielding error on a ball hit to the right side of the infield by Sean Bazmore that scored the winning Clarinda run in the eighth, making it the second time Clarinda has walked off the Mudcats this season. It gave Clarinda a huge win, as they would clinch second place in the MINK League this season, and a first round postseason bye later in the evening.
Chillicothe got on the board first, with a Jorey Anderson RBI single making it 1-0 in the top of the second, before Clarinda scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the second to turn the score in their favor, 2-1. The A’s, however, stranded the bases loaded, with Max Randis, Chillicothe’s starting pitcher, working out of bases loaded jams in both of the innings that he pitched.
The A’s would score one run on three hits in the bottom of the fifth to extend their lead to 3-1, before Chillicothe came alive in the sixth inning. Five consecutive hits from the Mudcats to open the inning, including RBI base hits from Elian Guzman and Jackson Crawford, gave the Mudcats three runs and put them in front, 4-3, going into the bottom of the sixth.However, the Mudcats left runners at second and third base to end the inning, two of the 10 runners that Chillicothe left stranded in the game.
Clarinda would tie it in that sixth inning, scoring on a sacrifice foul out in the bottom half of the inning to make it 4-4. Both teams had chances to take the lead in the seventh and final inning of regulation, but neither team scored, sending the game to extras. Chillicothe reliever Brennan Kettle got out of a bases loaded jam himself to take the game into an eighth inning, stranding the winning run at that time at third base.
A Jackson Crawford RBI single put the Mudcats in front, 5-4, scoring Jorey Anderson, Chillicothe’s courtesy runner, in the top of the eighth. Unfortunately, the bottom of the eight inning was a worst case scenario for the Mudcats. A Chillicothe error allowed the Clarinda courtesy runner to immediately score in the bottom of the eighth, before the error on the ball hit by Bazmore sealed the win for the A’s.
The Mudcats missed a crucial opportunity to inch closer to hosting a postseason game, as they drop to 19-22 overall, and 17-21 in the MINK League. They are now 5-12 on the road this season, and with the loss, the Mudcats lose back-to-back league games for the first time since late June.
As it stands the Mudcats sit in fifth place, and due to other results in the MINK League on Friday, it has been confirmed that Chillicothe will face Sedalia in the MINK League playoffs on Monday. The question, however, is which one of the two teams will host the postseason game. If the Mudcats want to be sure of hosting their first postseason game in five seasons, they must win their final two games of the season: both on the road, against the two teams that are eliminated from postseason contention.
For Saturday, the Mudcats will travel to Nevada for the second time in three days to face the Griffons (7-26), before traveling to face the Warren County Cropdusters (12-26) in the regular season finale on Sunday. First pitch from Lyons Field in Nevada tonight is set to be thrown at 7:00 p.m., so make sure to listen to the action live by tuning in to KCHI and kchi.com.
