The St. Joseph Mustangs split a doubleheader at Chillicoathe Sunday night, winning game one 2-1 in eight innings before losing game two 4-2.
With the win in the opener, St. Joe’s summer college baseball team won the MINK League North Division title for the third time in four years and they’ll play in the MINK League championship series beginning Wednesday against South Division winner Sedalia. The win also means the Mustangs have qualified for the NBC World Series in Wichita for the fourth time in their six-year history in St. Joseph.
In game one, the Mustangs got an RBI single from Joe Koerper in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead before the Mudcats came back to tie it in the fourth inning with a 2-out RBI single from Reyn Sugai.
Chillicothe had a chance to win the game in the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with no outs, but St. Joseph went to the bullpen and Trent Hill struck out the 3-4-5 batters for the Mudcats to send the game to extra innings.
Mike Sherburne gave the Mustangs the lead on a RBI infield single and Grant Gavin got the final two outs in the eight for his seventh save.
Hill went 1.1 innings of relief to get the win as he allowed one hit and he struck out four. Dixon Marble started the game and lasted 5.2 innings. He gave up just one run on six hits.
Hill also went 2-for-3 at the plate and he scored one runs, while Koerper also finished with two hits.
In game two, St. Joseph rallied from a 1-0 deficit as they scored two runs in the sixth inning, but Chillicothe answered back with three runs in the bottom half of the sixth to regain the lead and get the victory.
The Mustangs had just three hits as they were no-hit through 5.2 innings, before getting three two-out base hits. Ryan Abernathy and Joe Koerper each had an RBI single in the sixth, while Eric Wilcoxson also single and scored one run.
Blake Kolons suffered the loss as he allowed three runs and three hits in 5.1 innings of work.
St. Joe leads Sedalia by one game in the race for best record in the MINK League as they try and get home field advantage in the best-of-3 MINK League Championship series. Both teams have two games remaining and the magic number is one to clinch home field for the Mustangs.
St. Joseph travels to Clarinda Monday night for a 7:00 p.m. game against the A’s.