Tanner Sears hit a home run, and Caleb Bergman pitched eight innings, leading the Chillicothe Mudcats to a 10-3 win over the St. Joseph Mustangs on Tuesday night.
Down 1-0 in the first, the Mudcats got two men on base for their cleanup hitter Tanner Sears. Attacking the first pitch, Sears hammered a high drive that sailed over the left field wall to send a packed Shaffer Park crowd into a frenzy.
Both of Sears’ home runs this season have come against St. Joseph, and in his fifth season in Chillicothe, that was his first home run hit at Shaffer Park.
The Mustangs chipped away with a run in the second inning, and one more in the third to tie the game 3-3. In his Mudcats debut, Garrett Geenan singled his first hit to begin the bottom of the third. Sears and John Spoto each singled to put the Mudcats back out ahead, and a wild pitch and an error pushed it to 6-3 Chillicothe.
It was from that point that Bergman found his groove on the mound. After allowing three runs on five hits the first three innings, Bergman finished with five straight shutout frames where the Mustangs managed only two more hits.
In 124 pitches, Bergman posted the longest pitching appearance the Mudcats have had this summer with eight quality innings.
While he was silencing St. Joseph’s offense, Chillicothe squeezed two runs out of a bases loaded situation in the fourth inning, used a bases-loaded walk and wild pitch to plate two more in the seventh to take a commanding 10-3 lead.
Brady Graskewicz finished the Mustangs off with a scoreless ninth to close out another momentous victory. With a 12-8 M.I.N.K. record, the Mudcats are only 3.5 games back of St. Joseph for first place, and are just two behind Clarinda for second.
Chillicothe will pay the A’s a visit on Wednesday evening. The Mudcats lead that season series 3-0, and have not trailed Clarinda at any point.
Winning Pitcher: Caleb Bergman (1-1)
Losing Pitcher: Landon Reith (2-1)
Time of Game: 2:28
