One night after being no-hit at home by the St. Joseph Mustangs' Cory Cunningham, the Diamond Spirit of Omaha took out their offensive frustration on the visiting Chillicothe Mudcats Friday.
The Diamond Spirit racked up 16 basehits to spank the Mudcats 8-2 in MINK League college-level wood-bat baseball, ruining Chillicothe's 2011 season opener.
Chillicothe will have its first home game tonight (Saturday night), welcoming non-league opponent Strike Zone of Omaha to "June" Shaffer Memorial Park in east Chillicothe at 7:05. The Mudcats also will play at home Sunday at 7:05 p.m., hosting defending league champion Sedalia, an 8-5 home loser to fast-starting St. Joseph (6-0, 3-0 MINK) Friday in the Bombers' opener.
Last (Friday) night's contest in Omaha saw Chillicothe score single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to erase a 1-0 advantage Diamond Spirit took in the third. A sacrifice fly by Curtiss Bunch ( LaPlata, Mo.) scored Zach Esquerra as the Mudcats scored without a hit in the fourth.
The top of the fifth may have been the game's turning point. With ODS reliever Alejandro Partidas struggling for a second inning in a row, Chillicothe loaded the bases with no outs on a Dustin Phelps single, a 4-pitch walk to Kraig Kelley, and Cory Ford's pop fly single behind shortstop. Logan Moon (Lee's Summit) spanked a sharp hit through the right side, scoring Phelps to break the 1-1 tie.
That would be all Chillicothe could get, however, as its Nos. 3-5 hitters were retired on a popup, strikeout, and fly to left to strand three.
Diamond Spirit wasted no time pouncing on the momentum swing from the missed Mudcats chance.
Two bunts went for hits to start the home fifth and leadoff man Anthony Bazant bounced a hit past third baseman Bunch to again tie the game. When the throw from left field unwisely went all the way to home plate, runners ended up at second and third. That allowed pinch-hitter Anthony Cirillo's hit to left-center to score two more and give the hosts the lead for good.
The Omaha team then turned to homeowner Jake Aylward, a left-hander who spent the 2009 and 2010 seasons with Chillicothe, and he was very sharp.
After ending last season with a lame shoulder, he showed more velocity and control than he could manage when pitching hurt for the Fish, shutting out Chillicothe the last four innings on two hits. Walking none and striking out four, he earned the nod for the win by virtue of his strong work.
Chillicothe starting pitcher Dylan Owen, who had not appeared in a game in nearly two years, due to an injury and then redshirting, dodged serious harm for the first four innings, mostly due to batterymate Kelley. The Mudcats catcher, a 47th-round draft choice of the San Diego Padres in last year's amateur player draft, shot down three would-be basestealers – one to end the first inning and two more in the fourth, providing the second and third outs there. The 2010-11 freshman at Oklahoma Wesleyan University also went one for one at the plate plus a walk.
After the bunt hits led to Diamond Spirit's go-ahead 3-run fifth, Owen was sent back out to start the sixth and couldn't make it through. The last of Bazant's three hits drove in two more runs with two outs and Cirillo followed with another run-producing hit, knocking out Owen, who yielded 14 of the 16 ODS hits. Tyler Pavel's RBI double then greeted reliever Derek Roof, completing the game's scoring and leaving Owen responsible for all eight runs, seven earned.
The Mudcats, who had only one abbreviated preseason practice Thursday evening before starting game play, finished with seven hits, led by Logan Moon's single and double and one RBI.
Besides regional players Bunch and Moon, a couple of other area products made their presence known defensively for Chillicothe in the game.
Hometowner Alex Singleton, entering the game in Moon's center field spot in the eighth inning, made a spectacular diving catch of a Jake McLain line drive, and Levi Grassley of Cameron, subbing for Kelley behind the plate late, also threw out a baserunner trying to move up on a low pitch that briefly eluded him in the seventh.
