In what was essentially the first game of a playoff series Thursday night at Vivion field, the Jefferson City Renegades smashed the Joplin Outlaws 16-5 in eight innings and moved one step closer to clinching a spot in the MINK League postseason.
The team can clinch a postseason berth with a win in any of the next three games against the Outlaws, the first of which is today at 7 p.m. The two teams also play a double-header Saturday, with the first game scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
The Renegades (18-20 MINK) made a six-inning outing from Matthew Wade stand up and provided ample run support for a bullpen that has been shaky for most of the season. Wade gave up seven hits and one earned run, struck out five, walked four and hit two in 133 pitches, and Shane Fontenot, Ty Jones and Caleb Lasher kept Joplin (14-23) off the scoreboard in the seventh and eighth innings.
Justin McIntyre, Marquise Doherty and Jake Slunder each had three-hit games for the Renegades. McIntyre had a 3-run home run, and was a triple shy of the cycle while driving in five runs. Doherty hit a 2-run homer in the third and finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored. Slunder also finished 3-for-5 with three singles, an RBI groundout and two runs scored.
"We attacked early in counts," Slunder said. "We didn't find ourselves in a lot of two-strike counts, and that's normally what we try to stay out of, because it's so much harder to hit in two-strike counts."
Slunder and McIntyre typified Jefferson City's dedicated approach at the plate and aggressive approach on the basepaths. Both stole a base, and when Logan Hudson flew out in foul territory deep in the right field corner, Slunder tagged from first and beat the throw. He then stole third with McIntyre at the plate, who promptly singled him in. McIntyre was less successful testing the Outlaw defense in the fourth when he tried to score from second on an E3 that didn't stray far from the first-base bag, but the aggressiveness was what the Renegades' coaches were looking for.
"We were just trying to get in scoring position," McIntyre said. "When we were up 10-1, I asked coach, because I was on second and I could have stole third, I said 'Do you want me to steal or not,' and he said, 'Heck yeah.' So there's always aggressiveness.
Joplin struck first, scoring in the second inning off of two singles and two stolen bases, but Jefferson City responded with four in the third, two in the fourth, and four in the fifth to take a 10-1 lead and threaten a run-rule victory. But the Outlaws scored four unearned runs in the sixth to close the gap before the Renegades reeled off three in the seventh and eighth to win the game early.
"It was important for us to get back to doing what we do, which is hit the ball well and get guys out on the mound," Doherty said. "So to see us do both of those things tonight as well as play good defense behind our pitchers, that was really good for us heading into the playoffs and this end-of-the-season stretch."
Jefferson City turned two double plays, including a 3-2-3 gem in the fourth that helped kill a Joplin inning that began with bases loaded and nobody out. That all-around performance, perhaps the best all-around game the Renegades have played since the All-Star break, is why the players believe they're not coasting into the end of the season.