By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
One day after an out of division loss to the Kansas City Monarchs, the St. Joseph Mustangs returned to MINK League play with a boom, winning in seven innings against the Chillicothe Mudcats 16-4 on Friday night.
It wasn't easy though for the Mustangs to start. The Mudcats would take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, before St. Joseph would knot the game in the bottom half, as Savannah alumni Noah Bodenhausen scored on a wild pitch, and they would later take the lead as Lafayette alumni Brayden Luikart would score on yet another wild pitch.
Chillicothe would go on to tie the game back up in the top of the second, before once again in the bottom half of the inning the Mustangs would take the lead back thanks to Luikart who drove in two runs on a single and later in the inning a Ryan Callahan single would drive in two more, giving them a 6-2 lead at the end of two innings.
The Mudcats would draw a little closer in the fourth innings driving in their final two runs of the game, but the Mustangs would go on to score one run in the bottom half of the inning, and then score eight more in the bottom of the fifth inning, leading Chillicothe 15-4 after five frames.
The final run of the game came in the sixth inning, a sacrifice fly from Callahan that would score Luikart giving them the 16-4 lead before Ryker Curry would close out the game in his third inning of work in the seventh where the game would be called by run rule.
It was quite the showing for two Lafayette alums on the team as both Luikart and Jayden Little were 3 for 4 at the plate with 4 RBI's. Luikart was just a home run shy of the cycle, while Little also had one stolen base on the night. Callahan also drove in four on the night while going 2 for 4.
On the mound Michael Infranca pitched four innings giving up all four runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out one, before Curry came in and pitched three innings of relief also striking out one and giving up three hits.
The Mustangs are now 26-13 on the season, 24-12 in MINK League play, and remain in first place in the MINK League North division. They will wrap up a three game homestand on Saturday against the Des Moines Peak Prospects before hitting the road for four games, first pitch is at 7pm.
