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The weekend scorecard: Griffons wreck Renegades 15-0, drop pair to St. Joseph
The Nevada Griffons had an eventful weekend at Lyons Stadium, thrashing the Jefferson City Renegades 15-0 on Saturday, while also dropping a pair of games to the St. Joseph Mustangs.
The weekend contests concluded the Griffons regular-season, with Nevada moving to 21-24 overall and 21-21 in MINK League play. Saturday evening’s matchup with the expansion Renegades was a preview of the MINK South division wild card contest, with the second-place Griffons hosting third-place Jefferson City at 7 p.m. Wednesday night.
After Sunday’s tough loss to St. Joe, which included a heavy dose of bad luck, ninth-year Griffons manager Ryan Mansfield delivered a pep talk to his team. Mansfield told his squad that it’s been 11 years since a Griffons club has finished a season under. 500, referencing the 2006 team (26-30 overall). Mansfield should know, as he is the longest tenured coach (2009-17) and winingest Griffons coach (245-189) of all-time.
“This team is really, really good one day and then really bad,” Mansfield said after Sunday’s contest. “This is probably the streakiest team I’ve ever had. When we’re on, we’re really good and tough to beat.”
Mansfield continued: “And when we’re off, we’re really off. I hope we can get it together in the next couple days.”
Mustangs 5, Griffons 3
With the playoff seeding for Nevada and North division champion St. Joe already set, Sunday’s game was of little consequence to either team. The Griffons, however, jumped on top in the first, courtesy of Brendt Citta’s fielder’s choice groundout that scored Kainalu Pitoy from third. Pitoy earlier reached on a one-out stand-up triple to dead center field.
Griffons starter Jacob Lewis had his best stuff working, as the Coppin State product held the Mustang bats in check until the fifth inning when Josh Williams deposited an opposite field solo blast over the left field wall, tying the contest 1-1.
After breezing though the sixth, Lewis then encountered trouble in the seventh, when a leadoff walk to Jacob Richardson was followed by a hard-hit Jeremiah Figueroa double to left-center, scoring Richardson all the way from first. Figueroa’s base knock handed the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage.
After a mound visit from Griffons pitching coach Wally Marciel Lewis settled down to record three consecutive outs, stranding Figueroa 90-feet from home.
Things unraveled for the Griffons in the eighth. With one-out and the speedy Josh Lincoln on first, relief pitcher David Ruot induced Brady Anderson into what should have been an inning-ending double play. Anderson’s grounder in the direction of Griffons second baseman Pitoy, however, made contact with the base umpire who was unable to dodge the roller. The ruling on the field was one not often seen, a dead ball, putting Lincoln at second and Anderson at first.
With new life in the inning the floodgates opened for St. Joe. Colton Pogue’s RBI-double, followed by a Richardson run-scoring single, put the Mustangs in control, 4-1. Before Ruot could escape the inning, St. Joe had tacked on another run, via Figueroa’s RBI-fielder’s choice groundout to increase the Mustangs lead to four runs.
In the home half of the eighth, the Griffons loaded the bases on a fielder’s choice, a dropped third strike in which the batter reached, and a hit-by-pitch. Nevada was unable to capitalize, and Noah Menchaca’s fly out to left field concluded the frame.
The Griffons rallied in the ninth, with shortstop L.J. Hatch lacing a one-out single to left-center, scoring Marco Young and Rafael Villela Jr. to trim the Mustangs lead to 5-3. St. Joe All-Star relief pitcher Nikko Pablo was then able to record the final two outs of the game, with a strike out of Pitoy, and a Citta fly out to left that concluded the contest.
For the Griffons, Lewis (2-5) was the hard-luck loser, allowing just two earned runs and three hits over seven innings of work, while striking out two and walking two. St. Joe southpaw Jake VanVacter (4-3) notched the victory, yielding an earned run, and striking out five over seven frames. After 23.2 scoreless innings, Pablo finally allowed his first earned run of the season, as he currently sports a pristine 0.37 earned run average. Ruot, who endured the rough eighth inning, was tagged for three earned runs and four hits.
“This has been the typical game for us against St. Joe this year,” noted Mansfield. “We’ve gotten up on them, and there’s something that happens; whether it’s a ball (that) hit something on the field; (and) tonight, umpire interference.”
Mansfield further discussed the controversial eighth inning ruling.
“It’s frustrating, because that would have gotten us out of the inning right there,” the veteran coach lamented, adding, “it was the right call.”
At the dish for Nevada, Hatch concluded the evening 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI’s, while Villela Jr. was 3-for-4 with a run-scored.
Sunday’s contest was the second time in three days the teams had met, with the Mustangs doubling up Nevada 12-6 Friday night in St. Joe. With a 5-3 cushion entering the fifth, the Mustangs proceeded to break the game open with a four-run frame. The bulk of the damage came on a trio of RBI singles off the bats of Lincoln, Kaleb Reed and Brody Santilli.
St. Joe’s lead swelled to 12-3 in the sixth, highlighted by Michael Foley’s two-RBI triple. The Griffons didn’t go quietly, plating a pair of runs in the eighth and one in the ninth.
In four innings of work, Griffons starter Dante Richardson (1-4) issued three walks and seven hits, while allowing four runs (two earned) en route to the loss. At the plate, Hatch was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Young 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
Griffons 15, Renegades 0
The Griffons torched Jefferson City starter Anthony Green, lighting him up for five first-inning runs on a baking hot Saturday evening at Lyons Stadium.
After Green loaded the bases in the first, clean-up hitter Nick Kreutzer swatted a three-RBI double, as the Griffons seized the early advantage. After tacking on two more runs in the frame, the Griffons followed with a run apiece in the second and third to go on top 7-0.
Nevada’s next big inning came in the fourth, with Kreutzer clubbing a two-run homer that knocked Green out of the contest. Facing relief pitcher Cody Roth, Menchaca launched his eighth round-tripper of the season, increasing the Griffons lead to 10 runs. In the fifth a Pitoy fielder’s choice to the right side scored Young as Nevada led 11-0.
The Griffons offensive fireworks continued in the eighth, with a Young RBI-single, Hatch RBI fielder’s choice, and two-run error pushing the Griffons lead to 15-0.
For Nevada, Kreutzer went 3-for-5 with five RBIs and three runs scored; Young, 1-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs; Michael Pagano, 3-for-4 with a run and RBI; while Citta, Pitoy and Ben Sneider collected two hits apiece.
On the mound, starter Jake Fraze tossed four shutout innings, striking out a pair. Riley Ulery (2-2), picked up the victory, firing three scoreless frames, while Solomon Kilmeck tossed two scoreless innings.