This past week has not been kind to the Jefferson City Renegades.
Jefferson City lost its third-straight MINK League game Thursday night at Vivion Field, 11-10 to the St. Joseph Mustangs, and each of those three losses have come by one run.
But in the closely-contested South Division, the Renegades are still just two games behind Nevada and a game behind Ozark for the division lead with less than three weeks left in the regular season.
Thursday's game was a true see-saw affair, with five total lead changes. Hudson, the MINK player of the month of June, stroked the first pitch he saw from the leadoff spot over the fence in right, the first of four home runs in the game, but starter Matt Wade got touched up for five runs in 5 innings on home runs in the third and fourth.
The Renegades responded with three runs in both the fourth and fifth to take a 7-5 lead and give Wade a chance to earn the win. He exited with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, but reliever Shane Fontenot balked in two runs to tie the game in the sixth and then gave up two straight hits as the Mustangs took the lead.
After Austin Blazevic and Marquise Doherty reached with one out in the seventh, Reese delivered a single to left with two outs to put the Renegades ahead. Ty Jones bridged the gap to Jeremy Hidalgo, who blew the first save opportunity of his MINK League career.
"At the end of the day, we've just got to get better," Renegades coach Mike DeMilia said. "We just can't put it all together yet. We're trying to put all three phases together, and we keep putting one or two together, but not all three."
St. Joseph's pitchers, outside of starter Joseph Hietpas, struggled as well, but the Mustangs came away with the win by collecting 11 hits and six walks. Wade set the St. Joseph hitters down in order in the first and fifth innings.
"When we were in Clarinda we pitched awesome, we couldn't hit, that was the sad thing," DeMilia said. "Tonight, I don't have any answer, unfortunately."
Logan Hudson was 3-for-5 and was a triple shy of the cycle and Jady Reese drove in five runs on two hits.
"We hit well as a team. You score 10 runs you usually expect to win," Reese said. "It's just something that you've got to put behind you. It's another day tomorrow, we're going to come out and try to win a ballgame."
Missouri's Cade Bormet returned to competitive baseball for the first time in more than two months with the Renegades on Thursday, hitting eighth as the designated hitter. Bormet was taken to the hospital during the Tigers' May 4 game against Georgia after he crashed into the brick wall in right field chasing a foul ball. Bormet went 0-for-3 at the plate but reached three times on an error, a walk and a sacrifice-turned fielder's choice.
"It felt good getting back into it," Bormet said. "Good to be back out here on the dirt and grass having fun again."
Jefferson City (17-14, 13-14 MINK) hosts the Mustangs at 7 p.m. today.