Just as some might consider “light” or “lite” beer only “near” beer, the defense of the Chillicothe Mudcats’ opponent Monday night, the Southwest Elite, could have been considered “E lite” because it committed a handful of errors and too often came near the ball, but didn’t catch it.
    In a non-league game lacking edginess, the Mudcats posted a nondescript 13-2 triumph at “June” Shaffer Memorial Park.
    “It wasn’t the prettiest win for us, that’s for sure,” admitted Justin “Jud” Kindle, the Mudcats head coach.
    With the triumph in their first non-MINK League outing in over three weeks, the Mudcats’ record improved to 14-8, including the forfeit victory gained when Sunday’s scheduled opponent, the Des Moines Vikings, didn’t show up. Chillicothe now has victories in eight of its last nine decisions.
    The Fish will play their last non-league game tomorrow (Wednesday) night at Joplin against the Southwest Slashers, a team to which they lost 3-1 on June 1. Chillicothe plans to have Blake Barber (2-1) as its starting pitcher against the Slashers.

    The Mudcats spent the early innings creating scoring chances they didn’t fully convert, although they did put enough runs on the scoreboard to maintain a clear upper hand.
    Elite starting pitcher Chris Green, effectively was a one-pitch hurler since he couldn’t get his curveball anywhere near the strike zone most of the time, wiggled off the Mudcats’ hook in the first, but not the second.
    After working around Matty  Johnson’s leadoff double in the opening frame, Green saw Aaron Conway and Cole Mazurek sandwich singles around a Dallas Hord walk to fill the bases with one out in the second. Kyle Zimmerman’s fly ball to center field was just deep enough for Conway to slide home with the game’s first run.
    Another “Annie Oakley” to Johnson reloaded the bases for TS Reed, who dropped a single in front of the cautious right fielder to plate two more Chillicothe runs.
    The Mudcats had two more hits in the third, but a botched hit-and-run wiped away a baserunner and it remained 3-0.
    The Elite were assured of not being shut out when a two-out Chillicothe error let Jordan Kerbs score from third. Kerbs had reached on the Mudcats pitching staff’s bugaboo, the walk.

    Chillicothe then took a firm grip on the victory over the next two innings.
    With one out in the bottom of the fourth, the visitors’ defense briefly imploded.
Johnson reached when the second baseman fumbled his two-hopper and then sped to third as the throw to second on his steal try skipped into center field for another Elite error.
    Reed then lifted a pop fly just onto the outfield grass behind the first baseman, who was shortened up with Johnson at third. Neither the first sacker nor second baseman could get back to make the catch, giving Reed his third RBI of the night after he’d had only one in the season’s first 20 games. Compounding the situation, the Southwest second baseman ill-advisedly tried to throw home to get the swift Johnson and fired it over the catcher’s head for an error which let Reed trot down to second.
    A wild pitch sent Reed to third while Luke Schlechte was receiving a walk. The runner at first then stole second before Dominic D’Anna’s sacrifice fly down the left field line was dropped for the fourth error of the inning, scoring both runners for a 6-1 lead.
In the fifth, switch-hitting Johnson tripled up the alley in right-center field off lefthander Steve Caudill, who’d replaced Green to start the inning. That plated Zimmerman, who’d forced Mazurek after a leadoff walk.
    Johnson, whose batting average temporarily went over .300 on that hit after being only .067 two weeks into the season, said afterward the turnaround has been a combination of getting comfortable with the new team, teammates, and town and getting used to hitting with wood.
    “It was a little bit of both,” reflected the juco All-America outfielder from Neosho, Mo.’s, Crowder College and Lewisville, Texas. “I needed time to learn how to handle the weight (distribution) of the bat because it’s a lot different and it takes a better swing to  swing with a wood bat. It’s a lot different from aluminum. It took some time to get the swing down.”
    With two out, Schlechte picked up his team-high 18th RBI by getting a looping hit just over the retreating second baseman’s head that made it 8-1, Chillicothe.
When Andrew Mueller took over from Caudill at the start of the Chillicothe seventh, the Mudcats hit the 13-run pool.
    After Reed’s third hit of the game, Tyler Knight drove in a run with a bases-loaded single. Schlechte then scored as Conway’s grounder was booted, Dallas Hord drew a bases-full walk, Mazurek’s forceout grounder scored Knight, and Zimmerman picked up his second RBI of the evening with a single through the hole into left.

    Statistically, Drinnen made it two wins in two starts with a near-mirror-image of his June 20 start. The late acquisition out of Wichita, Kan., again yielded only an unearned run on two hits, this time over six innings after going five innings in his prior win over the Topeka (Kan.) Golden Giants. He has walked only one batter in 11 innings thus far.
“He was a big pickup. We’re glad he’s here,” Kindle commented. “One thing about Calvin is he goes out there and he throws strikes. That’s what you’ve got to do with wood.”
    At bat, Chillicothe ended up with 14 hits – a number of them courtesy of shaky Southwest defense. “We did a good job of hitting the ball tonight,” said Kindle.
    Reed, entering hitting only .203, had his second 3-for-4 game of the year. He had three RBIs, two runs scored, was hit by a pitch, and sacrificed once.
    Knight was two for four with a walk, pushing his batting average up to .296. Johnson kept his hitting streak going, moving it to 14 games with a 2-for-4 night that left his average at .298.
    “I’ve just been more relaxed lately and been having fun out here instead of pressing all the time,” Johnson remarked.
    Schlechte’s RBI in the fifth gave him a run driven in in his fifth-straight game. With their one apiece, D’Anna and Knight joined injured Bubby Williams with 13 RBIs, one more than Hord, who also picked up another Monday.

    NOTES:  With the game out of hand late, three Mudcats pitchers got into action in foreign roles. Aaron Kleekamp batted for Johnson with two outs in the seventh inning and grounded out before playing left field the last two frames. After pinch-hitting in the eighth, Michael Flanagin appeared at first base for the second time and Lance Guidroz handled right field in the ninth. In his at-bat, Guidroz showed good speed in legging out a swinging bunt down the third-base line.