By MATT PIKE
The St. Joseph Mustangs are ready for the playoffs after closing out the regular season with a pair of wins over MINK League opponents, sweeping a doubleheader against the North Missouri Natty's at Phil Welch Stadium.
In the opening game, the resumption of a rain postponed game from June 13th, the Mustangs entered trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the first. In the second inning, St. Joseph cut into the lead on an RBI double by Tyler Gundelfinger, scoring Carson Hintz. Then in the fourth, Gundelfinger narrowed the lead even more with another RBI double, again driving in Hintz, before he scored on an RBI double from Eden Meyers tying the game. A sacrifice fly from Frank Gall brought Carter Belton across home plate, giving the Mustangs a 4-3 lead after four innings.
The Mustangs held the lead until the seventh inning, when the Natty's tied the game with Jack Thomas scoring on an RBI double from Matt Asher. In the bottom half of the inning, St. Joseph scored 10 runs, to go on to a run rule victory. Hintz scored on a throwing error to give the Mustangs the lead back, then a two RBI triple by Gall scored Meyers and Belton to extend the lead. Leading 7-4, Seth Winkler reached first on an error, driving in Gall, and then Winkler scored on an RBI double from his Missouri Western teammate Micah Kobuszewski.
Now up 9-4, an RBI double by Brayden Luikart scored Kobuszewski, before Luikart came home with an RBI single by Jayden Little. After Hintz walked, Gundelfinger doubled to drive in both Little and Hintz, moving to third on a throwing error, and then scoring on a single from Meyers to cap the scoring with the walk off run rule hit. Sebastian Coleman threw the entirety of the resumption, throwing six innings and giving up one run on three hits, walking four and striking out five.
At the plate in the opener, Gundelfinger was 3-for-4 with three doubles and four RBI's. Meyers was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI's. Gall was 1-for-4 with a triple and three RBI's, while Kobuszewski was 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a triple, a stolen base, and an RBI.
In the second game, the originally secheduled regular season finale, the Mustangs continued to pour runs on, first scoring five runs in the bottom of the third inning. A bases loaded hit by pitch on Little scored Norman Davis and then Carson Schrack drove in two more with a two RBI single, bringing home Luikart and Chris Coy. Little finally came in to score with an RBI single from Meyers and Charles Stevens drove in Schrack with his own RBI single to cap the scoring in the third.
The Natty's cut into the lead with two runs in the top half of the fourth inning on a two run home run from Vincent Dale. But in the bottom half, the Mustangs did one better than their 10 run seventh in the first game, scoring 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth. Gall's RBI double scored Coy and Gall later scored on an RBI single from Luikart. After Little and Schrack walked to load the bases, Kobuszewski cleared them with a three RBI triple to extend the Mustangs lead to 9-2.
Meyers grounded out for the first out of the inning, bringing home Kobuszewski, but the Mustangs continued pouring on the runs as Stevens singled and Coy walked, Stevens coming home on an RBI single from Gall. After Gall stole second base, Luikart's RBI single brought home Coy then both Gall and Luikart scored as Little hit a three run home run to cap the scoring in the inning, the Mustangs ending the fourth up 16-2. With both games of the doubleheader being seven inning affairs, the Natty's loaded the bases after singles from Carson Erwin and Devin Norwood, along with a walk to Grady Hruska. '
Haru Takekawa, who pitched the complete game, forced Cole Erwin to ground out to end the game. Takekawa threw five innings and gave up two runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and three walks. At the plate in game two, Little was 1-for-1 with two walks and the home run with four RBI's. Kobuszewski was 1-for-3 with a triple and three RBI's. Luikart was a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI's and a walk scoring three runs.
The Mustangs end the regular season 26-15, 22-14 in the MINK League, and will host a playoff game at Phil Welch Stadium on Monday. First pitch will be at 6:30pm
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