Mustangs keep A's at bay, clinch 9th MINK League Title

After an excruciating end to the 2023 season, the St. Joseph Mustangs were able to finally shake that feeling and celebrate their ninth MINK title.

The Mustangs (40-9) beat the Clarinda A's (33-16) 3-1 in a decisive game three of the MINK League Championship Series.

It's the second straight year the Mustangs played in a winner-take-all game three at home. The Jefferson City Renegades won their first ever league title at Phil Welch Stadium in St. Joseph last July.

The Mustangs weren't going to allow that to happen again.

Trenton Roehler earned his third win of the season, limiting Clarinda to one earned run on seven hits and one walk in five and two-thirds innings. He struck out four batters and lowered his ERA to 2.01.

The St. Joe bullpen picked up where Roehler left off after he exited in the sixth inning. Bronco Witt and Jaren Guck combined to deliver three and one-third shutout innings to seal the game.

Clarinda's Brennan Sefrit delivered a solid outing, but St. Joseph came through with some timely hitting.

Sefrit stranded a runner in the first and second inning and worked a three-up, three-down third, but St. Joe broke through in the fourth.

Darius Freeman reached on a one-out single then stole second base. Dom Felix delivered two batters later with a RBI single to left field to give the Mustangs a one-run lead.

Trevor McCollum began the bottom of the fifth against Sefrit in a similar manner. McCollum opened the frame with an infield single, then stole second base. He moved up 90 feet on Jordan Black's first hit of the game to put runners on the corners. Easton Bruce followed with a third straight single for the Mustangs, driving in what would be the decisive run in the game.

Bruce was the final batter Sefrit faced. Xzavier Vargas took the mound for the A's and retired Noaha Bodenhausen on a ground ball that moved Black to third and Bruce up to second base. Connor Schrack followed with a ground ball to second base that brought Black home and lifted the Mustangs to a 3-0 advantage.

The A's outhit the Mustangs 10-8, but had a difficult time coming through with them at crucial times.

Connor McKnatt ripped a two-out double in the top of the sixth, and scored on Easton Smallwood's RBI single to put Clarinda on the board.

The A's finished the night with 10 runners stranded on base.

Freeman and Felix posted the only multi-hit games of the night for St. Joseph. Freeman went 2-4 with a run scored, while Felix raised his batting average to .321 going 3-3 with an RBI.

Smallwood was 3-4 at the plate with an RBI for Clarinda. McKnatt and Tyler Macon had two hits apiece.

Khi Holiday extended his on-base streak to 42 consecutive games to end the season with a walk and a hit. Layth Holiday also reached on a single and walk.