It had been an up-and-down summer for Jefferson City Renegades pitcher Nick Panagos, but he saved his best outing for the perfect moment. Panagos tossed a complete-game shutout Saturday night against the three-time defending MINK League champion St. Joseph Mustangs, sending the Renegades to their first ever MINK League title with a 4-0 victory in Game 3 of the Championship Series at Phil Welch Stadium.
It had been an up-and-down summer for Jefferson City Renegades pitcher Nick Panagos, but he saved his best outing for the perfect moment. Panagos tossed a complete-game shutout Saturday night against the three-time defending MINK League champion St. Joseph Mustangs, sending the Renegades to their first ever MINK League title with a 4-0 victory in Game 3 of the Championship Series at Phil Welch Stadium.
The Jefferson City Renegades were three outs away from their first MINK League title on two occasions, but the St. Joseph Mustangs found a way to prevail Friday night at Phil Welch Stadium. The Renegades led 2-1 headed into the bottom of the ninth, but the Mustangs plated a run to tie it and send the game to extra innings. And again in the 12th inning, Jefferson City led 3-2 before St. Joseph pushed across two runs to pick up a 4-3 walk-off victory in Game 2 of the MINK League Championship Series, setting up a winner-take-all Game 3 at 7 p.m. today.
Jefferson City Renegades outfielder Kevin Sanchez was injured in early July and had just three at-bats since July 2 heading into Thursday’s MINK League Championship Series game against the St. Joseph Mustangs. But after pinch-running in the ninth inning, Sanchez came to the plate with two outs and a runner on first base in the bottom of the 10th inning in a game tied at 7. Sanchez blasted the first pitch he saw to right field. The ball bounced off right fielder Brayden Luikart and hit the top of the wall, falling in for a walk-off triple to send the Renegades to an 8-7 victory at Vivion Field.
On paper, the Jefferson City Renegades enter their first-ever MINK League Championship Series as the underdog against the St. Joseph Mustangs. The Mustangs ended the regular season with the league’s best record at 29-15 and are looking for their fourth consecutive MINK League title when the best-of-3 series opens up at 7 p.m. today at Vivion Field.