It looked like the Jefferson City Renegades had finally found a glimmer of hope in what had been a brutal six-game homestand.
Leading the Joplin Outlaws 7-5 going into the ninth inning Friday night at Vivion Field, the Renegades were three outs from snapping a five-game losing streak.
But it wasn't meant to be.
Joplin scored two runs in the ninth to tie the game, then Alex Wheeler hit the go-ahead home run in the 10th to rally the Outlaws to an 8-7 win in MINK League play.
"It's been this way for two weeks," said Renegades manager Mike DeMilia, whose team has lost 14 of its last 16 games. "I don't have an answer, I don't know why. It's not for a lack of effort."
Joplin opened the ninth with a two-base error, an RBI double, a groundout and another RBI double against Renegades pitcher Peyton Leeper to tie the game at 7.
With runners on first and third base and two outs, John Prudhom took off early for second base, trying to draw the infield's attention and allow Donovan Sutti to score from third. But Renegades first baseman Paul Haupt tagged Prudhom before Sutti reached home, keeping the score tied going to the bottom half of the inning.
"Peyton got out of a jam there," DeMilia said. "They had a leadoff double and they could've taken the lead there, but Peyton made some big pitches in that inning. That was a good job by him."
Jefferson City had a chance to win in the ninth. Gaven Strobel singled to left field to start the inning. Joplin pitcher Austin Gottula overthrew first base on a pickoff attempt, but Strobel was thrown out trying to go from first to third on the error.
Gottula retired two of the next three batters he faced to force extra innings.
"I tried to take third, when we shouldn't have," DeMilia said. "Then we get a walk, and who knows what happens there. We still had a chance, we just couldn't get a big hit."
Wheeler, Joplin's No. 9 hitter, was hitless in his first four at-bats of the game, until he crushed the first pitch he saw from Xander Lovin over the fence in straightaway center field in the 10th
"We're going to challenge their No. 9 hole," DeMilia said. "He just put a good swing on it."
Gottula finished his fifth inning of relief by retiring the Renegades in order in the bottom of the 10th. He allowed just two runs on three hits and struck out three to earn the win.
Jefferson City scored four runs in the third inning. Tommy Reuther and Carter Mize each had RBI singles, and Lincoln Orellana had a two-run single to put the Renegades ahead 4-1.
"The third inning was good," DeMilia said. "We swung (the bats) well, got timely hits. We got a big hit when we needed it.
"The problem is we followed it up with a three-run inning where they scored three runs on one hit. We walked a guy, they had two sac flies, an error and that's it."
The Renegades led 5-4 after the fifth inning, but Joplin tied the score in the top of the sixth.
Mize, playing in just his fifth game with the Renegades, hit a two-run homer to right field to put Jefferson City ahead 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth.
"Carter's a huge addition," DeMilia said. "I wish we would have gotten him a little bit earlier, but he's doing a good job right now. That was a boost.
"We were in control of the game, we just couldn't finish it."
The Renegades nearly had a second homer of the game in the seventh, but former Renegade Mike Million instead made the play of the game, and perhaps the summer.
Haupt hit a towering drive to left field. Million climbed the fence, reached up and robbed Haupt of what would have been his third homer of the season.
"Before every game, I like to measure my steps. It's kind of like a routine," Million said. "Since I played here for a couple years and practiced here a couple times when I went to Lincoln, I know it's a small porch and I know he got a piece of it. I just had to make sure I got back to the fence, get my foot on it and jump up there."
Million went 1-for-4 with an RBI triple in the sixth inning in his last MINK League game at Vivion Field. Before playing for the Outlaws this summer, he played for the Renegades in 2017 and '18.
"All of our hard work is paying off," Million said of Joplin (23-17, 17-16 MINK League) already having clinched a MINK League playoff spot. "We can come out and we can be down, and then rise back up and fight through stuff as a team, that just shows how good of chemistry we have."
Before the game, Million threw out one of the two ceremonial first pitches to DeMilia.
"I have friends that play on the team," Million said. "Knowing that I have a little bit of history here, and seeing all my friends and family come up, it was like a 'welcome home' type of thing. I love coming back here."
Deejay Seelbach pitched the first 5 inning for the Renegades, earning the no-decision. The reigning MINK League pitcher of the week allowed five runs on five hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
Jefferson City (16-24, 12-24 MINK League) still trails Nevada by one game for the final playoff spot in the South Division. The Renegades play at 7 p.m. today at Sedalia, then host the Bombers at 6 p.m. Sunday to wrap up the regular season.
"I don't know what to do differently," DeMilia said. "I just hope we keep competing for two more games."