MINK League baseball: Bombers, Nevada both win; South race tied with 1 game to play

Pierce Bily, Matt Skipper, Koby Peebles and Oscar Sanay combined for 10 of Sedalia’s 12 hits as the Bombers stayed even with the Nevada Griffons in the MINK League South Division race by beating Joplin 9-3 on Monday on the road.

Sedalia and Nevada — which defeated Chillicothe 5-4 on Monday at home — are both 24-17 with one game to play. Nevada will host Ozark at 7 p.m. Tuesday, then the Bombers will travel to Ozark at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The question of who would win the South Division tiebreaker was unclear late Monday. Head-to-head record is the first tiebreaker, but Sedalia and Nevada split their season series, 3-3. Thus, it falls to the next tiebreaker component.

According to the Bombers’ Facebook page’s webmaster, Sedalia holds the tiebreaker over Nevada due to having a better record against last-place Joplin (Sedalia is 5-1, Nevada is 4-2). (After head-to-head, the next component is record against division opponents in descending order. Both teams are 3-2 against third-place Ozark.)

If this tiebreaker scenario is accurate, Sedalia would clinch the division on Tuesday if Nevada loses to Ozark; if Nevada beats Ozark, it would come down to the Bombers’ Wednesday game against Ozark.

The South Division champion will face North winner St. Joseph in the best-of-three MINK League championship series starting with a Friday home game, and also clinch a spot in the National Baseball Congress World Series.

In the first inning of the Bombers’ win, Peebles singled to score Bily and Sanay. Joplin (12-30) tied the game at 2 in the second, but that was all the damage Bombers starter Will Landssheft (4-1) allowed in six innings of six-hit ball.

The Bombers broke the game open with a four-run third off Outlaws starter Cory Ridenour (1-5). Bily’s RBI triple, Skipper’s RBI single and Kyle Zimmerman’s sacrifice fly gave Sedalia a 6-2 edge.

The three-run fourth started much like the previous inning. Bily had an RBI triple, Skipper notched an RBI double and Peebles tallied an RBI single to give Sedalia a 9-2 cushion.

Dylan McEwin allowed one run the rest of the way to notch a three-inning save, his first of the year.

Meanwhile, Nevada rallied from a three-run deficit with a five-run fifth for the narrow win.

Griffons ace Josh Malin (7-1) allowed four runs on eight hits in eight innings, and Zach Juliano allowed two hits but closed the door in the ninth for his first save of the year.

In the fifth, Chillicothe’s Talan Roepcke (3-4) allowed RBI singles to Derek Fletcher and Brad Wilson, then Austin Williams belted a three-run homer — his first longball of the year — to give Nevada a 5-3 lead.

Nevada notched four of its six hits in the big inning.