Mustangs allow six late runs in loss to Mudcats
Jul. 4—The St. Joseph Mustangs faltered late in their 6-3 loss to the Chillicothe Mudcats on Saturday at Phil Welch Stadium, getting outscored 6-0 in the final three innings on their way to their third straight loss.
The Mustangs (12-10, 10-9 MINK) looked primed to avenge their Thursday loss to the Mudcats early on in the contest. Pitcher Drake Kanallakan threw five strikeouts through the first four innings, and stranded the Mudcats (7-11) with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth.
Meanwhile at the plate, the Mustangs drew first blood on a single from second shortstop Cole Slibowski in the bottom of the second. Noah Bodenhausen and Brady Holden scored later in the inning, bringing the team to their final total of three runs before the third inning.
Catcher Jaxon Himell commented on the team's hot start and disappointing end.
"We came out, we were excited to play with a lot of energy. Pitching did pretty well up until the very end, and on offense we couldn't get much going," Himell said. "The pitcher had us on our back heels most of the game."
The Mustangs had a scoring opportunity in the third, but otherwise managed only a few sporadic base hits through the rest of the game, managing just two through the final six innings.
The Mudcats finally caught steam late in the game. In the top of the seventh, a 2 RBI single from Chillicothe's Max Huntley led to relief pitcher Will Hann substituting in for Kanallakan, and an error in the following at bat led to another two runs to put the Mustangs in a one run deficit.
A handful of diving grabs, off-platform throws and other excellent defensive plays by the Mudcats negated any meaningful contact the Mustangs were able to make throughout the remainder of the game.
"We just didn't play the way we wanted to, obviously myself included. We just didn't really have it at the plate," Designated hitter Ike Book said. "The pitching was honestly doing well but we weren't providing too many runs and that came back to bite us."
A pair of insurance runs for the Mudcats in the ninth proved to be unnecessary, as the Mustangs failed to even get on base in the final inning.
More than halfway through the season, Himell has all the confidence in the world that the team will overcome this rocky patch and achieve their full potential.
"I'm still so excited to get to the playoffs. I have full confidence that this team will win the championship."
Levi Smith can be reached at levi.smith@newspressnow.com.
