Mustangs notch back-to-back comeback victories
By Jacob Meikel
Trailing in their last two games, the St. Joseph Mustangs did not blink against the Warren County Crop Dusters.
Heading into the first of a three-game set with the Crop Dusters on Friday, the Mustangs had already owned the series between the two teams. St. Joseph had won all three games against Warren County to that point, winning by an average of nine runs per game.
Warren County had put the results of those first three games behind, at least for the early portions of Friday’s and Saturday’s contest against the Mustangs.
The early pitching from Mustangs starter Landon Reith on Friday was a struggle out of the gate, as Reith would last just 1.1 innings, giving up six hits and seven earned runs to put the Mustangs in a hole early. The Crop Dusters eventually found themselves ahead 8-1 by the bottom of the third inning.
Still the Mustangs kept grinding the game out, and eventually found their groove when it really mattered. St. Joseph chipped away at the Warren County lead little-by-little, before surging in the sixth and seventh innings by scoring 14 runs in the final two innings and ending the contest early in seven innings. The Mustangs would rally back to win 19-9.
Just one day later on the same field at Phil Welch Stadium, the Crop Dusters would once again assert themselves early. Warren County struck first blood on a fielding error in the top of the first, taking a 1-0 lead in the inning before ballooning that lead to 3-0 in the top of the six with back-to-back RBI singles from Eli Elsbecker and Jack Pettit.
Like they did the night before, the Mustangs stayed the course. In the seventh, they exploded for three runs, one of which was scored on a wild pitch to tie the game at three a piece. St. Joseph would take advantage of a pitching error once again in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring their fourth run on a wild pitch and then their fifth run on an RBI double from Jackson Glueck. Warren County would eventually watch their 3-0 lead flip upside down to a 5-3 deficit. The Crop Dusters would score one more run in the top of the ninth, but fail to tie the game and lose 5-4.
The Mustangs find themselves in the final week of their regular season schedule before the MINK League playoffs take place next week. St. Joseph is still first in the league at 33-6 with Clarinda just behind them at 28-10.
