Sometimes you win a game by swinging the bats. On Friday night, the St. Joseph Mustangs can chalk up their 5-3 victory over the Beatrice Bruins to keeping the bat on their shoulders.

Beatrice starter Mike Strong walked two, uncorked a couple of wild pitches, balked once and allowed a double to Rob Lind to spot the Mustangs three unearned runs in the first inning. St. Joseph’s offense and pitching did just enough after that.

“We were patient in the beginning,” Mustangs manager Matt Johnson said. “The last time, this guy came in here and carved us up.”

Added, Johnson, “His slider was down, down, down, but we stayed patient and didn’t chase it.”

But Strong wasn’t as sharp this time around, allowing all five Mustangs runs on five hits, throwing a third wild pitch that put Greg Noble in position to score St. Joseph’s fourth run in the third inning on Bryan Brown’s single.

This was the defending MINK League champions’ third loss to the Mustangs in as many meetings, leaving long-time manager Bob Steinkamp a bit frustrated with the early deficit.

“This has happened to us a lot of times this year,” Steinkamp said. “We’ve lost five one-run games. We’ve just got to stop getting behind early.”

Steinkamp said the Bruins suited up only 10 players and continue to play shorthanded during the early part of the season.

“We have a couple of players from the University of Texas who are still in the (College World) Series and a couple of people who will hit in the middle of the order coming in next week who were drafted but then decided not to sign.”

Still, the Bruins cranked out 10 hits, eight of which came against winning pitcher Zach DeVall (1-0), who left with two outs in the seventh with the 5-3 lead.

Ben Baker and Drew Garwood each pitched two-thirds of an inning for St. Joseph, and Ryan Carbah got his fourth save, getting the final batter on a popup after giving up a pair of two-out hits that put runners on the corners.

Brown and David Turnbull recorded St. Joseph’s only two RBI hits of the night, both singles. Brown’s hit to left-center drove in Greg Noble, while Turnbull’s one-out hit to right-center drove home Johnny Coy.

Sports reporter Rick Dunaway can be reached at rickd@npgco.com