The famous San Diego Chicken generally steals the show with side-splitting antics as the mascot travels the country entertaining baseball fans. But he had some competition Friday night.

The St. Joseph Mustangs’ Kyle Wooden stole the show in front of 2,733 fans at Phil Welch Stadium by driving in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs. Wooden and the Mascots defeated MINK League foe Chillicothe Mudcats 2-1.

After pitching a full game, Mustang Bill Disselhoff (1-0) sent his squad into the bottom of the ninth inning tied at one run apiece.

Greg Noble, hitting clean up for the Mustangs, poked a shot into shallow center field — placing the tying run on first base. Local athlete Johnny Coy dribbled one to first base and was unceremoniously thrown out for the second out of the inning.

That brought Wooden up. After Noble stole second base, Mudcats pitcher Tyler Minto tried jamming the lefty, Wooden, with a fast ball inside. But Wooden jumped on the inside fastball, sending it to deep right field and scoring Noble for the 2-1 victory.

“I have been struggling for the most part,” first basemen Wooden said. “It feels good to be able to come through for my teammates in a big conference game like this one.”

From the top of the fifth to the bottom of the seventh inning, the game seemed destined to go into extra innings as both teams went three-and-out with Disselhoff recording two of his four strikeouts in the top of the eighth inning.

The Mudcats (0-1) attempted to bunt their runners around the bases on several occasions.

But in the top of the sixth, Chillicothe’s Darian Sanford grounded out to shortstop, scoring Kyle Standridge after a one-hit inning where the Mustangs committed two errors.

“They played small ball very well, but (Disselhoff) kept his pitch count down,” said Mustangs manager Matt Johnson, whose club is 4-3 overall, 2-2 MINK. “(The Mudcats) have got to be the fastest overall team that I have seen yet.”

The Mustangs’ offense ran through Noble. He finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base while Wooden was responsible for driving in two.

“Greg Noble is seeing a beach ball at the plate right now, so I was not surprised with his hitting tonight.”

The late-inning victory preserved the Mustangs’ undefeated record at Phil Welch, which was nearly full for the entire game.

“It’s unbelievable to see so many people here to witness such a great game,” Mustangs owner Dan Gerson said.