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Mueller Time: Walk-off victory over Clarinda snaps Griffons' four-game losing skid
Jake Mueller's 11th inning walk-off single lifted the Nevada Griffons to a 7-6 victory over the Clarinda (Iowa) A's Monday night at Lyons Stadium.
In a contest that featured Griffons' first-year head coach Will Loza's ejection, as well as a terrific long-relief appearance from Treviz Brown, it was Mueller's extra-inning heroics that vanquished Nevada's four-game winless drought.
Prior to Mueller's clutch hit the Griffons had squandered golden opportunities in both the ninth and 10th innings, stranding runners in scoring position with less than two outs.
Trailing 6-4 entering the bottom of the eighth the Griffins knotted the contest at six-apiece, courtesy of back-to-back run-scoring triples off the bats of nine-hole hitter Mueller and dynamic leadoff man Brayland Skinner.
After yielding six earned runs over six innings of work, Nevada starting pitcher Alec Telles gave way to Brown in the seventh. Brown has successfully moved past a rocky debut with the Griffons in mid-June, and has since been a stabilizing force out of the pen.
Brown, whose fastball tops out in the mid 80s, plowed through the A's order, allowing just two hits while striking out four over four scoreless frames of work, extending from the seventh through the 10th inning.
Brown's only hiccup of note came in the eighth, via Nick Barendrick's two-out triple. Brown then stranded Barendrick 90-feet from home, inducing a Peyton Holt groundout to third.
With the contest tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth former Griffon Noah Menchaca moved over from third to the mound. During the A's previous visit to Nevada on June 29 Menchaca dealt the Griffons a fatal blow, as his ninth inning grand slam powered Clarinda to a 10-5 victory.
Menchaca quickly found himself in trouble, issuing a leadoff walk to Chris O'Neal, followed by an Eli Harrison single, putting runners on first and second with no outs.
With little room for error Menchaca received a gift from the Griffons when Trevor Kimm's hard bunt resulted in pinch-runner Bryland Skinner being gunned down at third on the force play.
A second consecutive at-bat resulted in Nevada's lead-runner being forced out at third, as shortstop Holt fielded a hard-hit Griffin Larsen grounder and, from deep in the hole, fired to third for the force out. The inning concluded on Coleman Fenton's fly out to center.
In the 10th Brayland Skinner was issued a one-out walk, and advanced to second when Chase Beiter reached safely on an infield throwing error.
Seemingly on the ropes, Menchaca recovered, inducing MINK League All-Star slugger Dom Hernandez to fly out to center, and Ian Jacobs to ground out to third to end the inning.
After four nearly flawless innings of relief work, Brown was replaced on the hill by Rece Martin to open the 11th. In the midst of a rough patch, Martin entered the contest with a 12.83 ERA, having surrendered 11 hits and seven earned runs in his previous four innings of work.
Martin walked the first batter he faced, but emerged from the inning unscathed after a strikeout and subsequent inning-ending twin-killing.
After escaping dire jams in the ninth and 10th Menchaca wasn't as fortunate in the 11th, as Trevor Kimm's one-out double had the Griffs in business.
Kimm was able to advance to third on a heads-up running play after Larsen grounded back to the pitcher. Menchaca charged off the mound and fielded the ball cleanly, giving Kimm a quick glance back at second before going to first for the inning's second out. The look-back to second wasn't enough, however, as Kimm bolted safely to third.
Menchaca seemed to be in prime position to wiggle out of his third consecutive jam, needing just one good pitch to fan Fenton. Mencahca then plunked Fenton on the pay-off pitch.
Menchaca was then up in the count on Mueller, two strikes and no balls, before the walk-off base knock was sliced into to right-center.
Early inning run production
The Griffons tagged Clarinda starting pitcher Clark Candiotti for a run-apiece in the first and second. In the first, Hernandez clubbed a Candiotti offering out of the park.
In the second, a Mueller single and error resulted in Kimm scoring from second for a 2-0 Griffons advantage.
The A's clapped back with a pair of runs in the third, punctuated by Menchaca's RBI-single.
The Griffons went back in front in the fourth as Harrison led off the frame with a solo blast off Candiotti. Nevada tacked on another run as Brayland Skinner's one-out, bases loaded single put the Griffons up, 4-2.
The two-run lead quickly evaporated as Holt's RBI double in the fifth trimmed Clarinda’s deficit to 4-3. Holt ultimately came around to score for the tie-game.
Telles retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth, but Clarinda loaded the bases after a walk and consecutive singles. Donovon Ditto's two-RBI single pushed the A's in front, 6-4.
For Nevada, Martin (1-2) notched the pitching victory, striking out a batter in a scoreless inning of work.
Candiotti, the son of former Major League knuckleball mainstay Tom Candiotti, allowed four earned runs and five hits, while walking five and striking out four over five frames of work. Menchaca, meanwhile, was saddled with the loss, yielding three hits and an earned run across an action-packed 2 2/3 innings of work.
Pitt State product Mueller concluded 3-for-6 with three RBI and a run scored. Brayland Skinner and Harrison also notched three-hit performances, as the Griffons pounded out 14 on the evening.
"It's just nice to get back on the winning side," Loza said. "Our guys have battled through (losing) those four games in row. Tonight wasn't easy, and I didn't expect it to be easy against a Clarinda team that hits very well. I think they're hitting (over .300) on the year, and have 20-plus homeruns on the season. So it was going to be a tough matchup for the pitchers."
Summed up Loza: "Offensively, we did enough to get the win. Defensively, we made plays during the last four innings."
Said Loza of the four-game losing skid. "We just ran into good teams that had a little bit more pitching than us at the end. And that's all that was, we just didn't score enough runs to win. Our guys we ready to win, they were tired of losing."
The mild-mannered Loza indicated his fifth-inning ejection was the result of arguing balls and strikes.
"Our assistant (coaches) did a great job of keeping them in the game, and pulling them through for the 'W.'"
Loza discussed his club's inability to produce the game-winning run with runners in scoring position multiple times late in the game.
"It's never easy to be in those situations," Loza explained. "We had enough shots to win it, and fortunately we got it done in the 11th."
Said Loza of Brown's top-notch performance on the bump: "He throws more than one pitch (for a strike) over the plate. And that's what's going to be successful at the college level — if you can throw more than just a fastball over the plate, and get them to swing-and-miss at your other two. His (velocity) is sneaky, and a lot of his success is being able to reach back for the fastball when he needs to get it."
Nevada (9-16) returned to the diamond Tuesday, falling to MINK League North division foe (and host) Chillicothe Mudcats, 12-3.
It was a rough evening for Nevada starting pitcher Walker Johnson, as the Mississippi native was victimized by four Nevada errors during the first two innings.
Nevada jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, with Harrison driving in both runs.
The Mudcats responded with four runs in the home-half of the first, and scratched across three more in the second for a 7-2 lead. Chillicothe then tacked on a pair in the fourth, padding their cushion to seven runs.
Kimm's RBI-fielder's choice groundout in the sixth narrowed the Griffons' deficit to 9-3. It stayed that way until the eighth, as Chet Merritt's run-scoring single highlighted a three-run Mudcat frame, and accounted for the final nine-run margin.
For the Griffons, Johnson took the loss, allowing seven runs (three earned), while walking seven and striking out one. Chillicothe starter Cristhian Cardona picked up the pitching victory, allowing just three hits over six strong innings of work.