CLARINDA, Iowa – The Chillicothe Mudcats started the week by taking down the team that had won five of the last six MINK League titles in the St. Joseph Mustangs. The Mudcats kept their improbable run to the league championship series going Tuesday night at Eberly Field with a 3-2 win over the Clarinda A’s in the semifinals.
“I know everyone definitely overlooked us,” Mudcats infielder Canon Creason said. “No one really expected us to do anything, they probably thought we’d get knocked off by St. Joe.”
The Mudcats put their season in the hands of Chillicothe native Kobe Wagers. The local lefty was ranked among the top prospects in the league and showed why Tuesday night against the A’s.
The gem from Wagers didn’t come without trouble, trouble that started in the first. Theo Anderson gave him the most trouble in the outing, starting with a double in the bottom of the first.
The A’s left Anderson stranded in the first, a problem the team had throughout the night.
“I think it’s a lot harder when you’ve got one game—anything can happen,” A’s manager Ryan Eberly said. “You saw tonight we were tight at the place and weren’t able to get anything going offensively.”
The Clarinda pitching staff did its job throughout the night, starting with Clay Hedges. The A’s starter allowed just two baserunners through the first three innings.
The A’s created an opportunity to take the lead in the bottom of the third despite two consecutive fly outs to start the frame. Cooper Knights kept the inning alive, reaching after getting hit with a pitch.
Wagers allowed just four hits in his start with three of them coming from Anderson. The St. Mary’s third baseman moved Knight to third with his second double of the game. Clarinda couldn’t get them in with Wagers forcing a groundout to end the threat.
“I just know I had to work and use my defense behind me,” Wagers said. “I knew I couldn’t do it all myself, this isn’t high school anymore and I can’t go hunting strikeouts. So just get outs and trust my defense to have my back.”
Hedges strong outing hit a wall in the top of the fourth. Jevon Raboy and Max Heintz were each hit with a pitch, quickly putting Hedges in a bind.
The A’s starter struck out left fielder JP Gonzalez for the first out, but allowed Raboy to get to third with a stolen base. Creason then scored Raboy with a sacrifice fly to center, putting the Mudcats ahead 1-0.
“I think it’s really brought out our competitive edge,” Creason said. “We’re looked at as underdogs and we use that to our advantage by catching teams off guard and playing well.”
It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth that Clarinda found themselves with a chance to tie the game. Anderson laced yet another double into the gap, then Andrew Young drew a one-out walk.
Anderson reached third with a stolen base, but a slow roller to third made tying the game more difficult for the A’s. Clarinda loaded the bases with a walk from Grant Lokken, but Wagers again wiggled out of the jam by striking out Jo’elvis Fernandez.
“Those moments are definitely scary,” Wagers said. “But I had my second baseman back there giving me words of encouragement and that helped me just relax and chill. I just pictured myself throwing a fastball in the middle of the zone and I just got that guy to strikeout.”
Wagers’ night ended after a walk to start the top of the seventh. Logan Arbuckle forced a fly out to the first batter he faced, then got help from his catcher with the second out, throwing out Knight at second. Anderson added his third hit of the night, but an Olsen fly out again kept the A’s off the board.
Chillicothe stretched the lead to two in top of the eight with an RBI double from Nick Blakeney. Clarinda kept the Mudcats at two runs, forcing a fly out and a strikeout after the Blakeney double.
The A’s were finally able to break through in the eighth with a little help from Chillicothe. Parker McNeal singled with one out, then a Lokken walk and Fernandez single loaded the bases.
Andy Gill popped out to shallow left field left McNeal stuck at third. The A’s appeared destined to miss another scoring opportunity as Sean Bazmore hit a ground ball to shortstop, but a friendly bounce kept the inning alive and allowed McNeal and Lokken to score — tying the game at two.
“The biggest thing about these guys is they never give up,” Eberly said. “We could be down and still make a run at people—we were just a little short in some of these games. But they’re good kids — they’re really good kids.”
The Mudcat offense was ineffective for most of the game but made the most out of tough outing from reliever Brady Laubscher in the ninth. Laubscher walked the first batter of the inning before striking out the next two batters.
Command became an issue from there with a wild pitch allowing JP Gonzalez to reach third. Laubscher walked the next batter, then allowed Gonzalez to score on his second wild pitch of the inning.
Arbuckle closed the door on the A’s season with a clean ninth inning. The Chillicothe pitching staff had allowed almost 12 runs per game in its three regular season trips to Clarinda.
In the other playoff matchup, the Joplin Jailbirds rallied from a 7-4 deficit in the final two innings of their matchup with Carroll to win 8-4. The MINK League Championship series will feature the No. 3 and No. 5 seeds from the playoff.
“We knew the whole time what this team was about and what we can do,” Creason said.