Northwest’s Pablo makes MINK All-Star team
COURTESY OF ST. JOSEPH MUSTANGS
The St. Joseph Mustangs will have seven players competing in the MINK League All-Star Game tonight in Chillicothe. The group includes Northwest Missouri State University pitcher Nikko Pablo. Standing from left: Jacob Richardson, Brady Anderson, Josh Williams, Michael Lydon-Lorson, Steve D’Amico, Pablo and Mustangs mascot Rally.
The St. Joseph Mustangs will have six players competing in the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas League All-Star Game tonight in Chillicothe.
The group representing St. Joseph includes Northwest Missouri State University pitcher Nikko Pablo, who still has an ERA of zero after nine games.
Also representing the Mustangs at tonight’s 7:15 p.m. game will be catcher Brady Anderson, outfielder Jacob Richardson and pitchers Michael Lydon-Lorson and Steve D’Amico.
All of them will play for the North All-Stars, coached by Sedalia’s Craig McAndrews.
The North squad is dominated by Chillicothe Mudcats, with eight on the roster. St. Joseph and Clarinda each had six picked, while Sedalia will have five playing.
Pablo, who recently exhausted his eligibility at Northwest, is one of the top pitchers in the league statistically speaking.
The right-hander from Stockton, California, has a 0.00 ERA in 16 2/3 innings. He has given up eight hits, struck out 14 and walked seven. He is 2-0 with two saves.
Only seven pitchers in the MINK have a 0.00 ERA and Pablo is one of only three to have thrown in more than two games in that list.
“He’s been our bridge guy that gotten us to the back of the pen, between the starting pitcher and our closer,” Mustangs manager Matt Johnson said. “We have brought him in in big situations with runners on base and he has came in and closed the door for us.
“He is definitely a guy that has the potential to go to the next level. He isn’t your prototypical pitcher. He is small and not very tall. That is what kills him. If he is 6-foot-4 or 6-foot-5, he’d been drafted in the first 10 rounds.”
The other two pitchers representing the Mustangs also sports ERA below 3.00.
Michael Lydon-Lorson, a right-hander from Rockhurst, is 4-0 with a 1.86 ERA and has two complete games in his four starts.
Steve D’Amico, a right-hander from Central Missouri via Coastal Carolina, is 3-0 in five games and a 2.20 ERA.
Richardson, who plays at Nebraska-Kearney, is hitting .364, fifth in the MINK League. He has eight RBI, has drawn 14 walks and has 11 stolen bases, fifth best in the MINK.
Anderson is eighth in the league in batting with a .319 average with a 24 RBI, first on the team. He plays at Valley City State, the alma mater of Johnson — a former Bearcats assistant coach.
All-Star festivities start at 10 a.m. with a Pro Scout Day for the players. At 3 p.m., batting practice will start. At 5 p.m., the Home Run Derby commences and the champion will be presented a trophy at 6:30 p.m.
The Mustangs participant is Josh Williams, who has three home runs.
