St. Joseph Mustangs take a break from MINK League, battle the U.S. Military Wardogs
By Calvin Silvers
After splitting their weekend contests, the St. Joseph Mustangs came off a rare, two-day off period on Thursday, welcoming a new type of opponent to Phil Welch Stadium. The Mustangs took a break from Mink League competition, as the team welcomed the U.S. Military Wardogs to the community.
The Wardogs are a team of current and retired military members who travel across the United States. After they visited St. Joseph, the team walked away with a loss, and the Mustangs tallied a 5-3 victory.
It was aggressiveness out of the gate for the Wardogs, as they got a runner on first right away. Later in the inning, with two outs, the runner tried to steal second, but St. Joseph catcher Jase Johnson saw the runner take off, throwing it to Truman Bodenhausen for the out.
Mustangs tried to match the aggressiveness, as the team’s first hit came early but the Wardogs’ third baseman scooped and threw the ball to first for the out with just inches to spare. The next hit was a pop-up to the shortstop before the inning was retired off a Noah Bodenhausen swing-and-miss.
As the Wardogs trouted back out for the top of the second inning, they were looking for runs. Wardogs got runners on the corners as Colby Casaus came to the plate. His hit snuck under the glove of first baseman Jayden Little, resulting in the contest’s first run.
The second inning continued to be a nightmare for St. Joseph, as the Wardogs again placed runners on the corners. This time it was Casey Lee stepping to the plate, as his hit went between the gap of the third baseman and shortstop, allowing the runner from third to score to put the Wardogs up 2-0.
Confidence only grew in the second inning, as Wardogs still had damage to do. This time at bat, Ruger Beck tried the right side. Little came up to try and dish the ball to a running McCollum to first, but Little fumbled the exchange, and another runner scored.
McCollum avenged that last play, as the Wardogs’ hit went to the pitching mound. McCollum secured the ball, threw it home for the out, and the catcher got it to first for the double play to retire the inning with a 3-0 Wardogs lead.
Mustangs first runs came in the bottom of the seventh inning. Frank Gall ripped one down the first base line, bringing in a Mustang runner from second base. The next batter, Diego De Santiago, used a sacrifice fly for the second run of the contest for the Mustangs.
St. Joseph tied and took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, as Truman Bodenhausen fired back to the pitcher, but both the second baseman and shortstop tried to catch the ball at second base, resulting in an error and Little crossed home plate for the 4-3 lead.
Wardogs could not get two runs in the ninth, and the Mustangs are back in action at 7 p.m. on Friday against the Warren County Crop Dusters in Phil Welch Stadium.
