Herbert Dominates In Start, Wild Things Blank Boomers, 5-0
WASHINGTON, Pa. (May 16) – After winning last night's home opener 6-3, Washington got back to work Saturday night and put forth a masterful pitching performance to move their win streak to four games. In front of a large crowd at EQT Park, starter Andrew Herbert gave the crowd a gem of a performance going seven innings. He allowed only one hit, walked one and fanned a career-high nine.
Herbert got off to a blazing start retiring out the first 12 batters with six of those 12 outs being strikeouts, which passed his career high, set last year in his second outing: five against the same Boomers. After the fast start he hit Anthony Calarco on the ankle to end his perfect game in the top of the fifth before getting the next three Boomers batters out with a fielder’s choice and a pair of flyouts to left and center field.
Herbert would go on to pitch two more innings, losing his no-hitter in the top of the sixth after Tony Livermore hit a double to right field. In a game that had a total of just six hits, Washington managed to support Herbert’s performance with clutch and timely hitting to win both the game and the series.
The Wild Things bats got off to hot start after second baseman Graham Brown got the team going with a two-out single off Boomers starter Harry Orth in the first. Designated hitter Andrew Czech followed right behind him to hit a two-run home run to left field to bring Brown home to make it 2-0. It was Czech’s 92nd career homer, putting him one ahead of Anthony Brocato for third on the Frontier League homer list.
Washington got back to work in top of the second with back-to-back walks by Anthony Brocato and Hunter Stokely to set up runners on first and second. After the next two batters grounded out and flied out, Caleb Ketchup got the crowd going once again by hitting a two-run single to bring home Brocato and Stokely. Ketchup made it to third after a throwing error by the Boomers.
After a scoreless third and fourth inning, the Wild Things added an insurance run in the top of the fifth after Graham Brown got the rally going with a one-out walk, which was followed by Andrew Czech's single to put runners on the corners. Right fielder Jeff Liquori made it a five-run game by hitting into a 4-6 fielder’s choice to bring home Brown.
Michael Foltz Jr. finished the game for Washington pitching the final two frames. He allowed just one hit and struck out four.
With the win, the Washington Wild Things improve to 6-3 on the season, and Herbert moves to 2-0. Meanwhile, the Schaumburg Boomers fell to 5-3. The Wild Things look to complete the series sweep tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m., Sunday, May 17. The gates open to the general public at 3 p.m. for the first Kids Eat Free Sunday of the season, presented by UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care. It’s also Mascot-A-Palooza.
The 24th season of Wild Things baseball in the MLB-partnered Frontier League is underway with more great baseball and entertainment to come. 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.
Go Wild at washingtonwildthings.com.
