The Chillicothe Mudcats trounce the North Missouri Natty’s on Thursday evening and sweep the two-game set at home against the Natty’s.
The Mudcats hopped out to a two-run lead in the bottom of the first inning. Cole Adair led off the inning with a triple and he scored the first run of the game on a Jordi Ventura triple. Two triples in the first three batters catapulted the Mudcats out in front early. Ventura later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 after one inning of play.
The Mudcats struck for three more in the bottom of the third inning and fourth innings. A Jordi Ventura RBI groundout scoring Cole Adair made it 3-0, and a Slater Hooke sacrifice fly to right field scored Jackson Neilitz to make it 4-0 after the third. In the fourth, Alejandro Somaza scored on a Jordi Ventura RBI walk to make it 5-0 after four innings.
The Natty’s crept onto the scoreboard in the fifth inning. Sawyer Nelson scored on a Devin Norwood groundout to short, that made it 5-1 Chillicothe. In the bottom of the frame, the Mudcats answered right back with one of their own. It was Jevon Raboy scoring in the inning on a Natty error, and the Mudcats held a 6-1 lead after five innings.
In the sixth, the Mudcats continued their good offensive night and tallied another pair of runs. A crazy play where Cole Adair scored from first after a pickoff attempt ended up in a couple of errors and allowed Adair to barrel all the way around the bases and make it 7-1. Later in the inning, Ryder McClain hit a sacrifice fly to center field and scored Rafael Calcaño to give the Mudcats an 8-1 lead after six innings.
The Natty’s got a run in the top of the seventh, it was Sawyer Nelson scoring on a Hudson Karczynski base hit and that made a slight dent in the Mudcat lead but they still led it 8-2. In the bottom of the seventh, the Mudcats put the game out of hand for good. After a host of Mudcats reached base, Cole Adair stole home to make it 9-2, and back-to-back wild pitches scored Rafael Calcaño and Slater Hooke, and the Mudcats led it 11-2 after seven innings.
The Natty’s tallied one more on the scoreboard in the eighth inning and made it 11-3, but the night belonged to the Mudcats on Thursday evening. Chillicothe dominates North Missouri at home and wins by a final score of 11-3 and sweeps the Natty’s in the two-game series.
The Mudcats improved to 5-14 on the season Thursday evening, and have now won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
The Mudcats are back at Shaffer Park on Friday to kick off the 25th Anniversary celebration weekend of Chillicothe Mudcats Baseball. Friday evening will be an exhibition game against the Kansas City Monarchs, and first pitch will be at 7:15 p.m.
Friday’s ball game will also be an old timers’ game, which means there will be former Mudcat players and coaches out taking the field against the Monarchs.
Saturday the Mudcats will return to MINK league play against the Carroll Merchants at Shaffer Park.