By PAUL STURM
LCL Sports Editor
psturm@cherryroad.com

Up, down Chillicothe Mudcats ended season just above water

The 2025 season of Chillicothe Mudcats college-level, wood-bat, summer baseball turned out to be one of points and counterpoints, of historic achievements – both positive and negative, of noteworthy displays of individual excellence in performance amid a wide swath of forgettable personal and collective showings, of wide swings in scoreboard results that ultimately registered a mediocre final ledger worth neither significant regret nor celebration.

When all was said and done – disappointingly sooner than projected on July 21 when, just as the season had begun eight weeks earlier, the Mudcats fell at home to the Nevada Griffons 4-1 in the opening round of the MINK League playoffs, they had posted a 21-18 overall record which included a 19-15 mark during the league’s regular-season schedule and a disappointing, even-steven 11-11 record on their home “Chuck” Haney Field at “June” Shaffer Memorial Park stadium.

Victories in the last two regular-season games to interrupt the unexpected July free-fall assured the best final won-lost rate in a half-dozen years and second-best in the past nine seasons. However, the first-round playoffs loss to the sixth-place finisher in the 7-teams league after barely a week before being in position to end the regular season No. 2 in the standings made the season’s last taste a sour one.

“The guys battled all summer, even if they were ‘behind the 8-ball’ at times, because of the defense,” reflects fifth-year head coach Tyler Hudlow. “I couldn’t be more proud of how they fought, especially after the start of the season.”

Elaborating on the impact of the consistently-shaky infield defense – Chillicothe was charged with 16 more errors (93-77) than the opposition, he says, “I’d say we probably win five or six (more) games if we cut the errors down. (That’s) Easier said than done, because of the (pitchers) being so resilient and working around the errors most of the time. But, at the end, it’s what did us in in the playoff loss.”

The trigger for the defensive woes was a lack of sufficient depth at a key spot.

“Some guys (played) out of position, because our true No. 1 SS backed out and didn’t come this summer to play,” the coach reveals. “If he would have been there, it would have definitely helped dramatically.”

Unfortunately, off-field factors limited the coach’s flexibility for pivoting from that player’s late decision.

“We were up against it with (the number of) host families,” Hudlow shares, “so getting more (of those) would also allow help to bring in more guys to fix those issues.”

“… Getting guys in the right position will be key in the future. Ensuring having multiple true shortstops will also help.”

Individually, for a second year in a row, a solitary Mudcat delivered a headlines-worthy season, while the two most-veteran team members ever exited in ownership of multiple team records which will still stand when the team presumably has its 25th season of play in two years.

On the heels of Venezuelan outfielder Julio Guerrero’s superb, but injury-hampered, offensive season in 2024 when he handily reset the Mudcats’ single-season records for highest batting average (.507), slugging rate (.701), and OPS (on-base plus slugging) rate (1.208), another foreign talent came to town from much farther away to break one long-standing team pitching record, tie another, and challenge a third.

Although not able to speak English, right-handed relief pitcher Ryotara Hirayama from the central Japanese city of Chiba had pitches and execution which translated perfectly.

In a team-leading 19 mound appearances – tied for third-most in a season in team history and unsurpassed since 2003, Hirayama was available, consistent and successful. Throwing 30 innings despite not making any starts, he allowed only 16 hits and struck out 33 – nearly leading the team in that latter category, while posting a 7-0 won-lost record and team-best 1.50 earned-run average.

His unblemished mark bested the former Mudcats record for most wins in a season without a loss, surpassing the 5-0 efforts of starter-reliever Kyler Wetherington in 2004 and starter Sean Rackoski in 2015.

The pitcher teammates and head coach Tyler Hudlow came to call “Toro” became only the third pitcher in the Chillicothe team’s history to earn seven victories in a single season. Andrew Dunn in 2008 and Tyler Minto the next year – both starters – accumulated seven triumphs, as well, but each also tasted defeat, unlike the 2025 bullpenner.

However, in keeping with the yodeling tone of the 2025 season, no other Chillicothe pitcher managed to earn more than two victories.

Hirayama also made a bid at unfurling the longest stretch of scoreless innings ever by a Mudcats pitcher, not being scored upon during his first 18-1/3 innings. When finally dented, he was exactly an inning shy of tying a Minto streak Ryne Dowling matched in 2016 (Dowling did not allow any runs in his 10 appearances that summer) and 2-1/3 innings short of Minto’s team-record best during his historic 2009 campaign.

In addition to his seven victories, Hirayama contributed one save to the team-record-equaling 12 the Mudcats’ staff accumulated this summer.

The chief contributor to that record-tying performance to wrap up wins came from much closer to Chillicothe, as did a pitcher who also was in the process of completing an unprecedented five years on the team’s player roster with record-tying and -resetting work.

Higginsville’s Tanner Sears, exploited both as a position player and pitcher to a far-greater degree than in any of his prior 3-1/2 seasons as a Mudcat (he switched to a different league, as planned in advance, at midseason last year), was a team force in both capacities, getting into all 34 games.

Starting 29 games as a fielder or designated hitter and another as pitcher, he overcame a slow start to pace the club in batting average (.292), on-base rate (.409), runs batted in (24), and OPS (.862).

Pitching 10 times, including losing his only decision in the early-season start he made at St. Joseph, he was a perfect eight for eight in save opportunities, tying the club’s single-season record for most saves previously achieved by Blake Ring in 2003 and Chris Fowler in 2004.

When added to the seven saves he’d racked up during his preceding years with the team, Sears blew past the team’s career record, which had been Ring’s and Fowler’s eight.

His bat was his biggest calling card, however.

Including 31 this summer, Sears finished his playing days with a team-record 155 career hits for Chillicothe, far ahead of original Mudcat Josh Mayo’s 2002-03 total of 88, a mark the Lafayette County product had surpassed last season.

His two dozen “ribbies” in his final year boosted his club-record career total to 96, 30 ahead of long-time record-holder Travis Dunlap (2002-03). Sears’ total is highlighted by a 41-RBI season in 2023, the fourth-highest single-year total in team annals. His 1.08 RBI a game pace that summer also is the team’s fourth-best ever.

With three home runs in ’25, he concludes his career here with eight, again fourth-most ever behind 2021 teammate Greyson Barrett’s record 10 and the nine hit by Jason Clark in 2003 and Zach Esquerra in 2011.

On July 10 at Sedalia, Sears did notch a couple of singular Mudcats long-ball distinctions.

Held out of the lineup for potential use as a pitching closer, he was inserted by Hudlow into the game as an eighth-inning pinch hitter with the Mudcats trailing 6-4 and having the bases full. He repaid the only Mudcats coach for which he’s ever played by launching a home run over the Dey Field right-center field fence.

Not only did that grand slam put his team in front to stay in what ultimately proved to be a critical victory – a win Sears subsequently earned a save in, but it was doubly-unprecedented. No Mudcat before had ripped a slam in a pinch-hitting role nor had any ever had two grand slams for the team. Sears also went deep with the sacks stuffed in the 2022 season opener at Carroll, Iowa.

While Sears was adding to his historic Mudcats resumé, so was durable right-handed pitcher and Green Castle product Koby Linder.

The team record-holder – by a wide margin – for most mound appearances, innings pitched, and strikeouts even before this season began, he began it only one win shy of equaling Caleb Bounds’ team standard of 13.

With Hudlow expecting to use him as a regular in the starting rotation while also selectively utilizing him for short relief stints between starts and having recorded two, three or four wins in each of his prior four summers with the Fish, it seemed a foregone conclusion Linder would eclipse Bounds’ mark. However, despite some solid starts, the team’s scoring struggles helped keep him stuck on 12 career victories at 0-3 heading into the final two days of the regular season.

In his last assured outing – and his last ever, it turned out, with the abbreviated stay in the playoffs, he was reached for a pair of 2-runs hits in the bottom of the first inning at eventual league runnerup Clarinda, Iowa.

His chances of pulling gaining a share of the team’s career-wins record very shaky at that moment, Linder displayed the fortitude, resiliency and resourcefulness which hallmarked his career in Chillicothe. He allowed only a couple more hits and a lone unearned run over the next seven innings, giving his teammates time to rally and eventually hand him lucky win No. 13.

That added a fifth team record – in keeping with his lengthy tenure, he also has the most losses (12) of any Mudcat ever – to his historic status. His team-most 35 strikeouts capped that stat at 157, nearly double second-place Bounds’ 84, while his club-leading 39-1/3 innings pitched advanced his career number to 187-1/3, just over 60 more than Bounds. Finally, even though used only eight times in 2025, he wound up on the hill 61 times in his Chillicothe career, more than twice the totals of 3-years teammate Jake Young and Bounds.

In terms of records, but from a team perspective, the just-ended season added some unwanted ones to the positive one of the record-tying 12 saves (eight by Sears and one each by Linder, Hirayama, Brock Falor and Jordi Ventura).

Mudcats batters collected only 283 basehits, the fewest (by 27) of any season in team history. The per-game rate of 7.26 also was the all-time lowest, as was the team batting average of .232, a sizable .016 lower than the 16-22 2021 squad. No Mudcat this summer batted even .300, also a first-time occurrence.

This summer’s team dented home plate only 209 times, second-fewest ever behind the first-year club, which scored 204 in 39 total games, as well.

One other category which saw a change at the top during the 2025 season was most games won in a career by a Mudcats head coach.

Tai Mitchell’s 3-years-career mark of 84 team victories during his 2015-17 tenure – an average of 28 a year – was eclipsed by Hudlow June 22 at Nevada when a 9-5 Chillicothe triumph was the 85th he’d overseen in 4-plus seasons.

When the team added 14 more, Hudlow – whose record 5-years tenure as head coach also has him at No. 1 in losses with 110 – concluded 2025 with 98 wins, an average of 19.6 per summer.

Although – aside from Hirayama’s and Sears’ work and the saves mark – this year’s pitching staff didn’t have or even challenge any other individual or team records, the group’s collective performance was, by at least one measure, the Mudcats’ best in 10.

The team’s earned-run average of 4.53 not only was 0.27 better than this summer’s opponents, but was more than a run lower and, in several cases, at least two lower than any prior season under Hudlow and Chillicothe’s lowest since Dowling’s 0.00 mark helped the 2016 club achieve a remarkably-low 3.24 collective ERA.

Although opponents outscored the Mudcats 227-209 and had 307 hits to the Fish’s 283, Chillicothe pitchers were effective in limiting the potency of those hits. Foes hit only five home runs, compared to the ’Cats’ 13 and Chillicothe had a 77-68 advantage in extra-base hits.

A shortcoming was making opponents earn their way on base. Mudcats pitchers handed out 193 walks and hit another 67 foes – a total of 260 “freebies,” while other teams were combining for only 225 such gifts to the Fish. Add in the 93-77 negative disparity in team errors – only a portion of which involved letting a batter reach base undeservingly – and Mudcats pitchers spent a huge amount of time working with baserunners on. Only relative success most of the season in stranding many of those runners – in 20 of the 39 games, opponents had double-digits runners left on base – kept games in reach.

“The pitchers did an amazing job all summer,” praises Hudlow. “They were able to minimize damage and pitched their best with guys on base. They threw strikes and made competitive pitches when it mattered the most.”

Delivering effective work on a regular basis, besides Sears. Hirayama and Linder were Layne Rutherford (2.64 ERA, .184 opponents’ batting average in five starts) and Brady Graskiewicz (3.00 ERA, .222 opponents’ average in 11 outings). Occasional key strong outings came from Josh Rego, Caleb Bergman, Johanno Perdomo and Blake Exizian.

Chillicotheans Max Wagers, a starting rotation regular, and infrequently-used reliever Justin Pyle each gained one win, but overall sustained inflated earned-run averages.

Wagers threw a few very good starts, topped by a hard-luck 2-1 loss to Jefferson City in the final days of the season, but struggled at other times and finished with a 1-4 won-lost record in 31-2/3 innings.

In his second season of sparing use, Pyle, in only four outings, posted a 7.62 ERA across 13 total innings with half of the 12 hits he allowed going for extra bases.

On offense, the dearth of consistent hitting left Ventura’s 34 hits and 24 runs scored as modest team highs. Usual leadoff man Jarian Pinckney surprisingly swatted a team-most five home runs, one of the better individual totals in team annals, helping generate a team-best .460 slugging rate. He also stole successfully in all 18 of his theft attempts, not far off Trevor Jones’ 2013 21-for-21 team single-season standard.

“Timely hitting was an issue all year,” Hudlow acknowledges. “We had a chance to score a lot more runs, but couldn’t come up with the big hit. Inexperience played a factor, but also some bad luck as well.”

He adds, “I think early we pressed and tried to do too much and then that carried over for a chunk of the season.”

League statistics show the Mudcats were in the majority in struggling to hit and score runs. While league championship series participants St. Joseph and Clarinda each piled up more than 335 runs, albeit while playing seven or eight more games than everyone else, the other five had 215 or less. The Mudcats’ 209 had them right in the middle of the pack.

“For the league in general, I’m not sure why it was down so much,” the Chillicothe head coach admits. “I think a lot of the fields in the league are ‘pitchers’ parks’ and the balls don’t fly many places.”

Asked If there was any one thing about the 2025 season he could change, Hudlow concluded, “I think getting the right shortstop I thought we had coming all along would have been the biggest difference in the team overall. It would have calmed everything down.”