In the final home game of the 2022 season, the Joplin Outlaws defeated the St. Joseph Mustangs 7-3 on Thursday night in the opener of the MINK League Championship Series.
Below are scenes from Thursday’s game at Joe Becker Stadium. All photos by Shawn Fowler.
In search of their first MINK League Championship Series victory in program history, the Joplin Outlaws kicked off their title hopes with a 7-3 win over the St. Joe Mustangs in Game 1 on Thursday at Joe Becker Stadium.
Joplin—the MINK League South Division Champions—took a scoreless tie into the third inning before plating four runs to take a commanding lead over the North Division winner Mustangs. Joplin added three insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to push the lead to 7-0. St. Joe threatened with three runs in the eighth inning but got no closer before the final out was made.
“This was crucial,” first-year Joplin manager Gonzalo Gonzalez said about winning the opening game at home. “St. Joe is hard to beat at home and I have to give it to them because they have a great team over there. For us, it was key to be able to take this one at our place and stay alive in this to give ourselves a chance.”
“It’s unreal,” Gonzalez added about playing in front of the home crowd at Joe Becker for the last time this season. “To be able to do this for the city of Joplin is big. It just goes to show you how much they care about us and our organization. I am just happy they came out and supported us in mass tonight.”
Ethan Sally started for the Outlaws and took a no-decision after holding St. Joe scoreless over four innings without allowing a hit, walking four and striking out one. Cole White earned the win in relief after allowing three runs on three hits, four walks and four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. Connery O’Donnell pitched 1/3 of an inning in relief before Justin Schrader finished the game out with a scoreless ninth inning.
“To see our pitchers come out and do what they did today was amazing,” Gonzalez said. “Especially with the lulls we have had this year. For those guys to step up and do a job for us is big.”
Braden Berry started and took the loss for St. Joe after allowing four runs, three earned, on four hits, a walk and three strikeouts in three innings. Tanner Schmidt allowed three runs on two hits, two walks and two strikeouts, while Michael Infranca and Tanner Lukowski combined for three scoreless innings.
The third inning was kind to the Outlaws, who crossed home four times in the frame to take a commanding lead in Game 1. After Sam Fagan led off the frame with a hit-by-pitch, Cade Lott singled, with Korrey Siracusa reaching on an error to load the bases without an out.
Caden Bressler singled to center field in the next at-bat to plate a pair of runs and break the scoreless tie. Two batters later, Max Bruff doubled the lead with a one-out single to center to score two more runs, pushing the advantage to 4-0.
“I saw a lot of patient at-bats, guys taking pitches and hunting that fastball when it was time,” Gonzalez said of the offensive output. “That was clutch for our guys to keep their heads down, grind out at-bats and do the right thing when they were in plus-counts.”
The Outlaws added insurance to their lead in the last of the fifth inning when Fagan drew a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to force in a run and push the margin to 5-0. Cade Lott followed with a two-run single to left to extend the lead to 7-0.
“That was it right there,” Gonzalez said about the insurance runs. “They threatened there at the end, so to be able to take advantage with this couple of insurance runs was big.”
St. Joe, which didn’t record a hit until the fifth inning, got on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth inning when three runs came home via walks with the bases loaded.
The Outlaws travel to St. Joseph to take on the Mustangs at 7 p.m. on Friday at Phil Welch Stadium. Game 3 is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. at Welsh Stadium.
“Pitching,” Gonzalez said when asked what it would take for the Outlaws to finish off this championship series with a win. “Pitching is going to be big. We are going to hit and play solid defense. It is going to come down to whether or not we show up on the mound.”
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