By MATT PIKE
The St. Joseph Mustangs had their eight game winning streak snapped, falling in game one of a doubleheader with the Jefferson City Renegades 4-2, but bouncing back to win game two 12-6.
In the opener to the day of the two seven inning games, the Renegades got to Mustangs starter Aron Harrington, scoring two runs in the first inning as P.J. Green doubled in both runs, driving in Jack Dunn and Braydn O’Neal. Jefferson City extended the lead adding one run in the second on a home run by Will Bachman, and scored their final run in the third inning with an RBI single by Maddox Meier scoring Alex DiGicianto.
Trailing 4-0 entering the fourth the Mustangs scored both their runs, the first coming thanks to a sacrifice fly by Justin George, driving in Trevor McCollum and moving Darius Freeman to third, before Luke Bies singled to score Freeman.
Harrington took the loss pitching 4 1/3 innings and giving up all four runs on five hits, striking out six and walking four. East Buchanan alum Gage Busby pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit, a walk, and striking out one, while Benton alum Chris Coy pitched one inning surrendering a hit with one strikeout. At the plate in game one, Freeman was 2-for-2 with a double, a walk. and a run scored. Easton Phillipe was 2-for-3 with a double.
Things fared much better for the Mustangs in game two, though they did have to come from behind again. But not before they took the lead in the top of the first inning as Northwest Missouri State’s Parker Griffith singled home Freeman for the opening score. In the bottom half of the inning, the Renegades took the lead, first tying the game as O’Neal scored when Drew Vonder Harr. Karson Durnin doubled later in the inning to give them the lead, driving in DiGicianto.
The Renegades extended the lead in the second inning on an O’Neal that scored Green. The Mustangs were able to cut the lead back to one run in the third, Griffith reaching first on an error allowing Jack Mosh to score unearned, but in the bottom half Jefferson City got the run back as Tyler Towe doubled this time, driving in Durnin for the 4-2 lead.
After a scoreless fourth, the Mustangs snatched the lead back with a five run fifth inning, cutting the lead back to one again thanks to Griffith with an RBI single, scoring Mosh, and then tying the game on a single by Bishop LeBlond alum Frank Gall that brought home Griffith. St. Joseph took the lead thanks to a bases loaded walk to Lafayette alum Jayden Little that scored Phillipe. and extended the lead with a two RBI single by Bies, driving in Coy and Gall for the 7-4 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Mustangs added three more runs, two coming on a single by Coy, scoring Griffith and Mosh, before Coy scored on an RBI single by Little. The Renegades added their final two runs in the bottom half of the inning, the first scoring on an error as Conner Flieg came home, and the final run coming with a sacrifice fly by DiGicianto, driving in Green to trim the lead to 10-6.
In the seventh, St. Joseph scored the final two runs again thanks to a bases loaded walk with Mosh scoring, and Coy reaching on a fielders choice and bringing home Lafayette alum Brayden Luikart.
Landon Reith earned the win in game two pitching five innings and giving up four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out five. At the plate, Gall was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Griffith was 2-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs while Coy was 1-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs.
The Mustangs are now 30-6 on the season and 24-5 in the MINK League. They are off on Monday and are back in action on Tuesday continuing their road trip, taking on the Sedalia Bombers.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.
