The Chillicothe Mudcats baseball season got off to a flying start Tuesday night, as they made history on the road with an 8-0 victory in game number one over the Carroll Merchants.
Four Mudcats pitchers combined for the first full no-hitter in the 22 year history of the Mudcats organization. Starter Jesus Santos threw four innings for the Mudcats, Steven Escarcega pitched three innings in relief, Brennan Kettle pitched the eighth inning for the Mudcats and Koby Linder finished out the combined no-hitter in the 9th.
Even though the Mudcats pitching staff surrendered nine walks, and at one point got into a bases loaded jam, not a single Carroll Merchant hitter could post a hit. The Merchants stranded eight runners on base, including a runner at third base in two separate innings
The Mudcats did all of the scoring, and got the first runs of the MINK League season on an RBI double by Mudcats veteran Tanner Sears in the top of the third inning. Chillicothe was kept quiet until they scored two more runs in the seventh inning, one off of an error by the Carroll pitcher, and the other off of a Jesus Guerrero RBI single.
The Mudcats piled on the scoring after that, scoring three runs in the eighth inning after three straight walks started the frame, and adding one more run in the ninth off of another Carroll error.
Chillicothe is now 1-0 to start the year, winning their first season opener since the 2016 season. The Mudcats will now travel south today (Wednesday) to face the Nevada Griffons, with first pitch scheduled for 7:00 p.m. You can listen to tonight’s game and every Mudcats game this summer on KCHI and on KCHI.com!