Joplin Wins Inaugural Mid-America League Championship; Cepicky Named MVP

Abilene, TX – A firecracker of a game finally exploded in the late stages, but in the end, the #2 seed Joplin Outlaws defeated the #1 seed Abilene Flying Bison 11-4 to claim the league’s first ever championship at Walt Driggers Field at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas Wednesday night.

 

The Joplin bats knocked in 8 runs over the first 4 innings to jump out to the early 8-0 lead. Abilene finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth to take the goose egg off the scoreboard.

 

The lone Flying Bison’s run had little effect on the Outlaws who then added 2 more over the next 3 innings to take a commanding 10-1 lead in the seventh.

 

Abilene’s only multi-run inning came in the bottom of the seventh when the Flying Bison scored twice to make the score 10-3.

 

Emotions boiled over in the top of the ninth when several Abilene staff, coaches, and players were ejected for disagreeing with umpires’ calls. The game was called prematurely, and the umpires awarded the game to Joplin. But cooler heads eventually prevailed, and the game was allowed to continue to its full 9-inning conclusion.

Each team added single runs in the ninth to set the final score at 11-4 in favor of the Outlaws as Joplin became the first-ever Mid-America League Champions.

 

In other news, the Joplin Outlaws’ C.J. Cepicky was named the Mid-America League Playoff MVP.

In 2 playoff games, Cepicky was 6 for 8 at the plate with a .750 batting average. C.J. also knocked in 7 runs while scoring 4 times for the 2024 Mid-America League Champion Joplin Outlaws.

 

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The Mid-America League is a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league with 6 teams spread across Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri.  Teams play a 68-game schedule from late May through early August.  More information on the Mid-America League is available at https://midamericaleague.com/.