Thanks to a halting first three weeks of their two-month season, the Chillicothe Mudcats found themselves far behind the fast-starting St. Joseph Mustangs in the MINK League's North Division title race. Now, more like salmon than catfish, they're making the arduous swim upstream, hoping to spawn a second-straight division crown.
The tough journey moved closer toward its goal Thursday night when the Mudcats rounded up the visiting Joplin Outlaws 7-4 at "June" Shaffer Memorial Park while St. Joseph was losing 6-4 in 12 innings at home to the last-place Diamond Spirit of Omaha.
Those results moved the Mustangs' league record to 17-11, while Chillicothe moved into a second-place tie with idled Clarinda (Iowa) at 14-10. Clarinda was washed out of its game at Nevada.
St. Joseph's lead over the Fish and A's dipped to 1-1/2 games in the process with Excelsior Springs (13-11) lurking only 2-1/2 games off the pace. Should St. Joe lose at Excelsior Springs Friday night in the first of home-and-home contests with the Cougars Friday and Saturday and Chillicothe complete a sweep its two-game home set with Joplin, the Mudcats would move percentage points in front of the Mustangs, although still technically a half-game back in the won-lost standings. At the same time, Clarinda is scheduled for a road doubleheader with the Ozark Generals Friday night which could carry them right into the division lead.
Chillicothe (16-10 overall) will hand the ball to righthander Mark Robinette (0-1, 3.18 ERA) for Friday's 7:05 p.m. clash with Joplin (11-17, 10-17 MINK). He started last Friday's extra-innings win at St. Joe, overcoming a slow start to work seven strong frames.
Mudcats head coach Adam Steyer plans to send Cory Trudell (3-1, 2.12), the league leader in strikeouts, to the mound at Sedalia in a (revised time) 3 p.m. game.
Thursday's Chillicothe victory saw Mudcat Tyson Parks snap a 0-for-17 streak with a long RBI double to left-center field in the bottom of the first after the Outlaws' Josh Frank had doubled home a run in the top half.
After each side turned an inning-ending, ground-ball double play to thwart excellent scoring chances in the third, the Mudcats got to Joplin starter and loser Zach Juliano for two runs in the fourth and three (two unearned) in the fifth.
Parker Hipp's long, two-run double to right-center scored Robinette, who had doubled leading off the fourth, and Crispin Tarango, who'd reached on a sacrifice-fielder's choice.
The fifth started with a Joplin error, which Steve Martin followed with a double off the center field fence. Josh McDorman and Tarango singled home runs and Hipp earned his third RBI with a tap to first, making it 6-1.
Joplin rallied with three in its sixth, capped by Alan Trayler's two-run double to right-center, but right-handed relievers Derek McGowan, Trudell, and Martin shut them down the rest of the way.
Starter Ethan Opsahl (1-1) got the victory despite allowing eight hits and four runs in 5-2/3 innings. Martin earned his fourth save by striking out the side in the ninth, just as Trudell had done in the eighth.
McDorman, Robinette, and Louie Templeton had two hits each for the Fish, while Wes Starks had three and Frank, James Tullen, and Kason Koelsch two apiece for the Outlaws.
Chillicothe's Casey Solem singled in the third inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Going one for five, his batting average cooled a bit to .409.
