By MATT PIKE
The St. Joseph Mustangs again struggled on the road, falling to the Chillicothe Mudcats 14-4 in a seven inning run rule loss to start a short two game road trip this week.
After falling behind in the second inning on a groundout by Chillicothe, the Mustangs did take a brief lead in the top of the third inning scoring three of their four runs. Carter Belton led the inning off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch, finally scoring with two outs on an RBI single from Atchison alum Boston Bruce. Lafayette alum Jayden Little doubled to drive in Bruce for the second run, and Little scored in the very next at bat with a single from Missouri Western's Micah Kobuszewski, giving St. Joseph a 3-1 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning though, Chillicothe took the lead back scoring four runs, cutting the lead to one run on an RBI double. An error allowed another run to score tying the game, before a passed ball brought home a runner giving the Mudcats the lead. Northwest Missouri State's Jordi Ventura capped the scoring in the third inning stealing home ending the third with the Mudcats up 5-3. Chillicothe continued to pour runs on in the fourth inning scoring five more runs. A bases loaded walk extended the lead for Chillicothe, before Ventura drove in two more runs, reaching first on an error.
An RBI single brough home one more run in the fourth inning for the Mudcats and a sacrifice fly scored Ventura for the final run of the inning, leaving Chillicothe up 10-3 at the end of four innings. The Mustangs scored their final run in the sixth inning, again with two outs. Zack Craft led off the inning with a double, and with one Belton singled to put runners on the corners. With two outs a single from Bishop LeBlond alum and Northwest Missouri State's Frank Gall drove in Craft to make it 10-4. The Mudcats scored their final four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
After a leadoff double, and a steal of third base, and RBI single drove in the first run of the inning. A groundout moved the runner to second, and with two outs another RBI single continued extending the lead. Back-to-back doubles from Chillicothe drove in the final two runs to give the Mudcats the 14-4 lead. In the seventh, with their last chance, the Mustangs were retired in order.
Wyatt Doak pitched two innings and gave up five runs, three earned, on two hits with five strikeouts and four walks. West Platte alum Jaxon Turner pitched one inning of relief and gave up five runs, one earned, on two hits with four walks and one strikeout. At the plate, Bruce was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Craft was 2-for-3 with two doubles. Belton was also 2-for-3 with a run scored.
The Mustangs are now 11-11 on the season, 8-10 in MINK League play, struggling on the road with a 2-8 record. St. Joseph will be off on Monday and Tuesday, before traveling to Kirksville on Wednesday to face the North Missouri Nattys.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.