Wild Things Hit Three More Homers, Czech Sets Doubles Record in Loss
JOLIET, Il. (May 10) – The Wild Things jumped out to an early lead but ended up falling in Sunday’s series finale at Joliet after a game that turned into a tight, back-and-forth affair. The club had won the series Saturday with a 16-6 win but fell Sunday 9-8, allowing Joliet to salvage a game from the weekend set.
The Wild Things scored two runs in each of the first four innings of the game Sunday. Andrew Czech hit his second homer of the series, a two-run shot in the first, which made it 2-0. The homer was Czech’s second of the year and the 89th of his career, pushing him past Anthony Brocato for third in Frontier League history. He wasn’t done making history in the game.
In the second, Ryan Ford stepped in with Hunter Stokely aboard following a single, his fourth hit of the series. Ford, in search of his first hit as a Wild Thing, delivered with a two-run home run to right, making it 4-0. Washington scored two more in the third. Kyle Edwards started the inning with a base hit and advanced to second two batters later on a passed ball. Czech, with Edwards in scoring position, lined a double to right center to plate Edwards and move the Wild Things lead to 5-0. Czech’s double was the 94th of his career, moving him out of a tie with former teammate Wagner Lagrange in the career doubles category for the Wild Things. Czech, who had taken that record last season before Lagrange passed him, re-took the record with that two bagger. He’d score on a base hit by Cole Fowler that made it 6-0.
That’s when Washington ran into some trouble. Joliet scored four times in the third for the second-straight night, plating one on an RBI single by Josh Phillips and three on a homer by Blake Berry, his first of two in the game. Caleb Ketchup delivered his second homer of the young season for Washington in the fourth to make it 8-4.
Liam McArthur hit an infield RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-5 and that’s when things got messy. On a line out to right by Ian Battipaglia, the runner at third tagged and scored, but McArthur was doubled off second. Because McArthur wasn’t forced to advance, the play became a timing play and Bermeo, the runner at third, crossed home before second was touched by Graham Brown, making it 8-6. That ended the first pro start of Ethan Brown. He allowed six runs in four frames.
In the fifth, Cam Suto hit a two-run homer off Kelvin Perez to tie the game at 8-8 and Joliet took the lead at 9-8 on Berry’s second homer of the day, hit off Landon Ginn in the seventh. Washington got a runner aboard in the eighth to bring the go-ahead run to the dish but failed to score. Greyson Linderman worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close it for the Slammers.
Washington takes the series win and a 2-2 record to Evansville for three games to continue the first road trip of the season at Bosse Field. First pitch Tuesday for the series opener against the 3-0 Otters is slated for 7:35/6:35 p.m. CT. Zander Sechrist is scheduled to take the hill for the Wild Things.
The 24th season of Wild Things baseball in the MLB-partnered Frontier League is underway with the homer opener scheduled for Friday, May 15 against the Schaumburg Boomers at EQT Park. For updates, other information and more, visit washingtonwildthings.com or follow the team on social media at facebook.com/WashingtonWildThings or @WashWildThings on other platforms. Single game tickets are available now and the club’s promo schedule has been released. You can buy tickets here.
