By MATT PIKE
The St. Joseph Mustangs started their three game road trip off the right way, taking care of business against the team right behind them in the MINK League standings and beating the Clarinda A's 13-4.
The Mustangs opened the scoring putting up five runs in the second inning, starting with an RBI single by Tyler Gundelfinger, driving in Benton alum Chris Coy. Gundelfinger and Easton Phillipe scored on a triple by Jack Mosh, and Mosh came home when Lafayette alum Brayden Luikart singled. Luikart scored the final run in the top half of the inning as he stole third base, and came home scoring on an error by catcher Tayvon Homolar.
Trailing 5-0, the A's began to chip away at the lead over the next two innings, getting one run in the bottom half of the second as Kane Wilson scored on a groundout by Clayton Pourciau. In the third, two more runs scored with Drake Cobb singling home Cooper Eberly. A sacrifice fly by Wilson cut the Mustangs lead to two, driving in Cooper Knight, to make the lead 5-3.
St. Joseph started to pull back away in the fifth, scoring two runs on bases loaded walks to Coy and Phillipe, with Mosh and Justin George scoring respectively. One more run scored in the top of the sixth inning as Gundelfinger grounded out, allowing Darius Freeman to come home to score. The A's though got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on a single by Homolar, scoring Wilson to make the Mustangs lead 8-4.
In the seventh inning, the Mustangs got the final runs of insurance they needed scoring the final five runs of the game, three coming on bases loaded walks. Carter Belton walked with the bases loaded to open the scoring, bringing home Luke Bies, and then Gundelfinger reached first on an error by Colin Linteo, driving in Coy.
Back to back bases loaded walks to Mosh and Luikart scored Phillipe and Belton, still keeping the bases loaded, but the final run scored as George reached first on an error by the third baseman Knight, scoring Gundelfinger for the 13-4 lead.
Cade Perkins earned the win for the Mustangs, pitching five innings and giving up three runs on one hit, walking three and striking out six. Lawson alum Lane Chapman pitched two innings of relief giving up one run on one hit, striking out two and walking two. At the plate, Mosh was 2-for-5 with a triple, a walk, and three RBI's. Gundelfinger was also 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI's.
The Mustangs are now 25-5 on the season and 20-4 in the MINK League. They continue the road trip, next heading to Carroll, Iowa to face the Carroll Merchants. First pitch is at 6:30pm.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt.