Washington Wild Things - Official Web Site

GAME RECAP

Wild Things get Fourth of July victory
O’Brien lights up sky with decisive 3-run blast

Washington, PA – The Washington Wild Things (24-16), presented by Washington Federal Savings Bank, picked up a 3-1 victory over the Traverse City Beach Bums (15-26) in front of a sold-out Fourth of July crowd at CONSOL Energy Park Wednesday night.

The Wild Things scored all of their runs in the seventh inning courtesy of catcher Pat O’Brien. With two outs in the inning, O’Brien joined in the fireworks theme of the Fourth of July holiday with a sky blast of his own – a three-run homer to put Washington ahead for good.

Aaron Ledbetter secured his sixth win of the season (6-0) with another lengthy outing for the Wild Things. In his 7 and 2/3 innings pitched, Ledbetter struck out seven, walked none and allowed only six hits and one run. Ian Heisel also was solid in relief as he picked up his fifth save, striking out four.

In the second inning, it appeared that the Wild Things had an opportunity to get an early lead, but the strong arm of leftfielder Jeff Vincent put that to a halt. Matt Sutton reached third base with a hard-hit triple to left field in the frame. However, Sutton was gunned down at the plate by a throw from Vincent after his tag on a fly-out by Rene Quintana to end the inning.

The Beach Bums lit up the run column first with two-outs in the fourth inning. After Curtis Ledbetter notched his second hit of the game – a double - he trotted home on Jeff Vincent's triple down the right-field chalk.

Washington responded after six scoreless innings in the seventh with its own two-out rally. With Mario Garza and Sutton aboard on two walks with two outs, catcher Pat O’Brien finally got to Traverse City starter Tony Casoli (3-5) with a big three-run blast over the left-center field fence, putting the Wild Things up 3-1..

Ian Heisel was clutch in his relief appearance in the top of the eighth inning. With the bases juiced and two outs on the board, he came in for Justin Mattison and struck out cleanup hitter Curtis Ledbetter to keep Washington’s 3-1 lead in tact. Heisel then went on to close out the game by striking out the side in the ninth.

The Wild Things will continue their series with the Beach Bums Thursday at 7:05 p.m. at CONSOL Energy Park. For tickets call the Wild Things’ box office at 724-250-9555.

-- Brian Dalek
-- Photo by Amber Miller

BOX SCORE

7/04/07
Traverse City 1, Washington 3

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Traverse City	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
Washington	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	X	3	4	0

Traverse City	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
Z. Kalter	RF	4	0	1	0	.306
J. Brown	SS	4	0	1	0	.224
B. Vericker	1B	3	0	0	0	.250
C. Ledbetter	CAT	4	1	2	0	.326
J. Vincent	LF	4	0	1	1	.286
B. Ramsey	DH	4	0	1	0	.250
S. Orr	3B	3	0	0	0	.277
S. Young	2B	4	0	0	0	.125
R. Dickerson	CF	3	0	0	0	.167
T. Casoli	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		33	1	6	1

Washington	POS	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
C. Sidick	CF	4	0	1	0	.265
J. Rine	RF	4	0	1	0	.289
N. Messner	1B	3	0	0	0	.313
M. Garza	DH	1	1	0	0	.178
M. Sutton	LF	2	1	1	0	.290
R. Quintana	SS	3	0	0	0	.319
P. O'Brien	CAT	3	1	1	3	.222
E. Earnhart	3B	3	0	0	0	.192
K. Werman	2B	3	0	0	0	.225
A. Ledbetter	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Mattison	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
I. Heisel	PIT	0	0	0	0	.000
TOTALS		26	3	4	3

DP--TRAVERSE CITY 2, WASHINGTON 0. LOB--TRAVERSE CITY 7, WASHINGTON 2. 2B--C.Ledbetter (9). 3B--J.Vincent (4), C.Sidick (5), M.Sutton (4). HR--P.O'Brien (2).

Traverse City	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
T. Casoli (L, 3-5)	8.0	4	3	3	3	3	1	6.27

Washington	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
A. Ledbetter (W,6-0)	7.2	6	1	1	0	7	0	2.62
J. Mattison	0.0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2.59
I. Heisel (S,5)	1.1	0	0	0	1	4	0	1.74

WP--A.Ledbetter. SO--Z.Kalter 2, J.Brown, C.Ledbetter 2, J.Vincent 2, B.Ramsey, S.Young, R.Dickerson 2, J.Rine, R.Quintana, K.Werman. BB--B.Vericker, S.Orr, M.Garza 2, M.Sutton.

Time: 2:14, Attendance: 3,414