By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
After rain on Friday in St. Joseph forced a delay at Phil Welch Stadium between the St. Joseph Mustangs and the Carroll Merchants, a double header was held on Saturday between the two teams.
The Mustangs took an early lead to start the game Friday night as a Ryan Callahan single would score Lafayette alum Brayden Luikart, giving the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. But from there the Merchants would score four unanswered runs over the next four innings, leading 4-1 at the end of the fifth.
St. Joseph would knot the game up at four a piece in the sixth inning. A Ben Click double would drive in one run and in the very next at bat, with William Dryburg at the plate, a wild pitch would score Michael Paule, advancing Click to third. Dryburg would fly out in his at bat to right field, bringing Click across home.
The Mustangs would take the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh as a Paule sacrifice fly would score Callahan. They would then go on to add three more in the bottom of the eighth giving them an 8-4 lead before mother nature would have something to say and forced the game to be delayed to finish Saturday.
In the resumption on Saturday, the Merchants would add just one more run in the ninth inning, eventually falling 8-5.
Easton Bruce led all hitters with two hits. Callahan drove in two runs on the night. Michael Infranca started the game and pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (two earned), while St. Joseph Christian alum Camden Lutz pitched the final two innings with two strikeouts and just one run given up.
GAME TWO
Fifteen minutes after the conclusion of Game 1, the Mustangs would again take the field with Mason Holton starting the game and out of the gate Holton looked like a man on a mission shutting down the Merchants.
Holton pitched four perfect innings before finally giving up an infield single in the top of the fifth inning to Carroll's Cullen McBride. Later in the same inning Holton would also give up his first walk of the game to Justin Johnson.
The Mustangs took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Following singles from Lafayette alumni Jayden Little and William Dryburg, Lafayette alumni Cole Slibowski would drive in Little on a single to left field. A double steal would put Slibowski and Dryburg on second and third respectively, before Trevor McCollum would strike out to end the inning.
St. Joseph would strike for five more runs in the fifth inning. A McCollum single would start the inning and then after a single from Lafayette alumni Brayden Luikart, both McCollum and Luikart would advance one more base on a throwing error, before Jeremy Rader would drive in both on a double. Jayden Little would bring in Rader on a single before the fifth run of the inning would come across unearned as Michael Paule scored on a throwing error from the catcher.
The Mustangs would score two more runs in the eighth inning, winning 8-0, as the Merchants struggled to figure out Holton all night, with Holton pitching eight shutout innings giving up just one hit and striking out nine batters while walking three. Ryker Curry would close out the game in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning only needing seven pitches.
Rader drove in four runs on the night with only one hit. Luikart, Little, McCollum, and Dryburg each had two hits.
The Mustangs are now 19-9 on the season, 17-9 in MINK League play, and sit just one game behind the Clarinda A's for first place in the North division. They will hit the road tomorrow to take on the Des Moines Peak Prospects with first pitch at 4pm.