RIJO SAVES THE DAY WITH DOUBLE
Sanchez Shuts the Door

Pearl, MS (July 8, 2025)- The Mud Monsters (26-26) worked their way to a .500 record with a win over a similarly hot Windy City ThunderBolts (18-34). The ThunderBolts who have won six of their last nine, didn’t make the game easy for Mississippi in any way. The win gave the Mud Monsters their sixth in the last seven games.

The ThunderBolts struck first with a run in the top of the first inning. Josh Gibson led off the game with a single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Michael Sandle. The Mud Monsters answered in the bottom of the third. Roberto Gonzalez (1-for-4) singled and came around to score on a Brayland Skinner (2-for-4) two out single to center field.

Mississippi took the lead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to Karell Paz (1-for-4). After a Victor Diaz (1-for-3) walk, Paz deposited his fourth home run of the season just over a leaping Cam Phelts into the visitors’ bullpen. At the time, the Mud Monsters held a 3-1 lead.

They gave one of those runs back when Windy City third baseman, Garrett Broussard, homered onto the pavilion in left field. Windy City tied the game in the seventh off Mitchell on a Phelts double to right centerfield. Mitchell finished the seventh inning scattering six hits over those seven and giving up three runs in what was a no decision for the lefty.

Kyle Booker (3-for-4) led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, and Victor Diaz singled a batter later, putting two on in the inning. Nilo Rijo (1-for-4) against the new pitcher, Jalen Evans, drilled a two-run double over the leftfielder Dakota Kotowski bringing home what would be the winning runs for Mississippi.

Sergio Sanchez let two runners on, and stranded those runners in scoring position, striking out Phelts to end the ballgame. Sanchez earned his ninth save of the season, putting him in second in the entire Frontier League. Rodney Theophile (3-4) will get the start in game two of the six game series against Dylan Kirkeby (3-4) for Windy City. First pitch is set for 6:30 CDT.