By MATT PIKE
The St. Joseph Mustangs let a 9-2 lead slip away against the Clarinda A's, but held on for a crucial MINK League win against the team just above them in the standings for a 12-10 win.
A sacrifice fly from Boston Bruce that drove in Chris Coy scored the first run from the Mustangs, and Frank Gall added another in the first inning when he stole third base and came home on a throwing error from catcher Brayden Olsen. In the second inning Coy's sacrifice fly extended the lead driving in Seth Winkler and Gall brought Carter Belton home with an RBI single putting the Mustangs up 4-0 after two innings.
A two RBI single from Cole Baumgart drove in Cooper Knight and Theodore Anderson for Clarinda in the third inning to cut the lead in half, but in the bottom half the Mustangs added five more runs, the first on an RBI single from Belton scoring Bruce before Coy was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing home Carson Schrack. Gall unloaded the bases with a three RBI double, driving in Coy, Belton, and WInkler to put the Mustangs up 9-2 at the end of three innings.
The A's scored four in the fourth inning, cutting the lead to three. Brayden Olsen hit a solo home run, an RBI double by Sean Bazmore scored Grant Lokken, and then Bazmore came home along with Knight on a two RBI double from Anderson. After going scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, leading 9-6, the Mustangs tacked on their final three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Gall drove in his fifth run of the day with a sacrifice fly, scoring Tyler Gundelfinger, and Brayden Luikart's two RBI double brought home Winkler and Coy for the 12-6 lead after five frames.
In the sixth inning as the A's rallied back, a bases loaded hit by pitch on Baumgart scored Andy Gill and a sacrific fly from Andrew Young brought home Bazmore to cut the lead to four. And in the ninth Clarinda continued to rally bringing home a run with one out on an RBI single by Knight, scoring Gill, and with two outs and two on driving in another run with another RBI single from Baumgart, bringing home Bazmore. With the tying run at first base, and the winning run at the plate, Brayden Hindes struckout Young to end the game.
Lane Chapman started the game and threw five innings giving up six runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out four. Hindes threw 3.2 innings of relief and gave up two runs on five hits, striking out six and walking three. At the plate, Gall was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and five RBI's. Luikart was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, and two RBI's. Coy was 2-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base, and two RBI's while scoring three times.
The Mustangs are now 21-13 on the season, 18-12 in the MINK League, and have moved up to third in the MINK standings with seven games remaining in the regular season. The Mustangs stay home on Friday to host the Carroll Merchants. First pitch at 7pm.
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