The St. Joseph Mustangs entered the six-team MINK (Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas) League playoffs one week ago with a .500 record, and a rather pedestrian #2 seed in the north division, heavy underdogs to the top-seeded Clarinda’s, who dominated the eight-week long regular season with a mark of 28-4, earning the #1 seed in the north, with Chillicothe seeded third and Des Moines failing to reach the playoffs.
After winning four straight games over a five-day stretch, including a stunning rally on Tuesday night at Clarinda, St. Joseph is back atop the MINK League, as champions of the postseason.
St. Joseph completed its week-long blitz with another rally, although Friday night’s was not quite as dramatic. Trailing 1-0 through 3 1/2 innings against a Sedalia squad needing a win to extend the championship series to a third game, the Mustangs rolled to the title with four runs in the 4th, two each in the 5th and 6th, and four more runs in the 7th inning, drilling the Bombers 12-2 at Phil Welch Stadium.
Sedalia’s defense struggled in the season-ending loss, committing five errors, while the St. Joseph offense amassed 11 hits, with two each from Slibowski, Grauberger, Paule, and Kissane.
On Wednesday night, St. Joseph opened the championship series with a 9-8 win at Sedalia in Game 1 of the title showdown. However, the effort that shifted the focus of the Mustangs came Tuesday night. Down 7-0 through six innings against powerhouse Clarinda, after the A’s scored seven runs in the bottom of the 1st inning, the Mustangs stunned the Iowa side with eight runs over the final three innings of the contest, winning 8-7.
On Monday night, in the Wild Card game of the North Division, St. Joseph came back from a 3-1 deficit against Chillicothe, scoring two runs in the 7th and two more runs in the 8th inning to end the Mudcats season, winning 5-3 at Phil Welch Stadium.
