Andrew Warner pounded a ninth-inning, game-winning double to the wall Wednesday, July 26 at Liberty Park Stadium in Sedalia, sending the Bombers to the second round of MINK League postseason play in a 7-6 victory over the Clarinda A’s.
Sedalia (26-17) advances to face the top-seeded Mustangs in St. Joseph 7 p.m. Thursday.
Warner walked and scored twice before delivering the game-winner.
“Once you get up to the plate, that’s you,” Warner said of staying calm in a back-and-forth contest. “That’s the situation you live for. When you’re a kid playing in the back yard, that’s what you live for.”
Clarinda stormed into the postseason with five wins in the last six games, fending off Chillicothe for the final MINK League North playoff spot Monday. Sedalia played the A’s three times in the last week of the regular season to a 1-2 record.
Justin Murphy pitched five innings before Jake Tolbert tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief. Tolbert was lifted in favor of Josiah Imhoff with a runner on first.
Imhoff loaded the bases and allowed a soft grounder good for one run. Louis Niemerg, on the mound again for a late, game-tying error, relieved the State Fair Community College sophomore.
On an eight-inning, 6-4-3 double play attempt, the throw from shortstop to second – wide right — allowed two A’s to score and tied the contest at six.
Head coach Craig McAndrews deployed Tolbert, Imhoff and Niemerg Monday in a 6-5 loss to St. Joseph. Niemerg was charged with the loss after surrendering two unearned runs and three run total in the ninth.
“Those are our best guys,” McAndrews said. “You look at the numbers, and those are our best guys. As a coach, you want to win or lose with your best guys.”
A fastball tagged Devon Wilson to lead off the first and Cole Gray moved him to third with a double. An error on the throw allowed Wilson to score, but Gray was thrown out advancing on the same error.
With two outs in the third, Aaron Brooks blocked a pitch and fired the rebound into center field as runners advanced. Nigel Nootbaar scored from third to tie the game at one.
Warner walked, Dalton Horstmeier doubled and Raul Elguezabal hit a sacrifice fly for one run in the fourth. Matt Jones sliced a single inside the left-field line to score Horstmeier and Sedalia led 3-1.
Drawing another leadoff walk, Warner scored on a 6-4-3 double play in the seventh, pushing the Bombers lead to 6-2.
Command waned for Justin Murphy in his fifth and final inning. He issued two walks – including one to leadoff batter Danny Mitchell, who later scored on a passed ball. Alec Paz let Murphy off the hook after a failed attempt to stretch a single into two bases. Gray recorded the putout after a bobble in center.
Penciled into the lineup for defensive sharpness, Wilson and Elguezabal manufactured two runs off Clarinda reliever Parker Dent. Wilson singled, stole third and scored on a passed ball. Elguezabal singled home Horstmeier, who reached on balls.
It year one for a new MINK League postseason format. Three teams from each division qualified, competing in one-game playoffs before a three-game championship series. Ozark and St. Joseph, respective South and North Division leaders, earned first-round byes.
Last season, the Bombers beat St. Joseph 3-2 in a one-game playoff before winning games one and three over the Ozark Generals for its second MINK League Championship.
