The Chillicothe Mudcats were the victim of a complete drubbing on Thursday evening against the St. Joseph Mustangs in their first game since Monday evening.
The Mudcats got a run in the top of the first inning on a JP Gonzalez RBI walk that scored Jackson Neilitz. 1-0 Chillicothe at that point. It was a good start to the ball game for the Mudcats, and they possessed some early momentum.
However, the Mudcats ended up stranding the bases loaded in the top of the first.
After that, it was all St. Joseph the rest of the way.
Chris Coy led off with a triple to begin the bottom of the first. The very next batter, Frank Gall, singled him in. 1-1 ball game two batters into the bottom of the first. Next batter, Brayden Luikart doubled in Gall to make it 2-1 Mustangs, still nobody out in the top of the first. After a walk and a hit by pitch, Eden Myers recorded an RBI walk to bring Luikart, 3-1 in favor of the hometown Mustangs. Next batter, Charles Stevens smacked a two-RBI double to make it 5-1 and still only one out in the inning. Isaiah Kettler, the next batter singled in another one to make it 6-1. The Mustangs batted around with only one out recorded.
The top of the lineup brought more fortune for the Mustangs in the bottom of the first. After a walk to load the bases up again for St. Joe, Brayden Luikart singled in a pair to make it 8-1, also his second and third RBIs of the inning. The Mustangs weren’t quite done yet either, Boston Bruce continued the offensive explosion by singling in one final run for St. Joe in the inning. It was a 9-1 Mustang lead after the first inning.
The Mudcats were held scoreless the rest of the way in St. Joe on Thursday.
In the third, the Mustangs continued their incredible offensive night. After working the bases loaded, Boston Bruce tacked on an RBI walk scoring Isaiah Kettler, that made it 10-1. Micah Kobuszewski followed up with the same result as Bruce, scoring Chris Coy to make it 11-1. Later in the inning, Tyler Gundelfinger got an RBI single of his own, scoring Brayden Luikart. 12-1 Mustangs.
Two more crossed in the third for St. Joe as well, those two runs scored on a Mudcat error at shortstop, and another bases loaded walk in the inning. It was 14-1 in favor of the Mustangs after three innings.
The only scoring the rest of the game came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Brayden Luikart demolished a no-doubt, two-run home run over the right field porch to make it a 16-1 St. Joseph lead.
That score stayed true through the final out in the top of the seventh inning, in which the Mudcats were finished off, and get run-ruled by the final score of 16-1.
The Mudcats fall to 1-7 on the season and lose for the seventh straight game on Thursday.
Chillicothe will return home and face off against the Carroll Merchants on Friday evening from Shaffer Park, first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Friday.