Wild Things Take Middle Game to Even Series in Avon
AVON, Ohio (June 20) – Behind some late scoring, a three-run fifth and a rock-solid start from Maddox Long, Washington avenged the series-opening loss to Lake Erie last night with an 8-3 victory to even the series, setting up a rubber game tomorrow.
The Wild Things and Crushers watched both starters cruise through the first four frames. Fraynel Nova was perfect through four for the Crushers while Maddox Long saw two baserunners reach, one via a second-inning single and one on a third-inning error. That’s when Washington got going in the fifth.
The inning started with a double by Andrew Czech, which served as the Wild Things’ first baserunner of the night and first runner at second in the series after last night’s 9-0 loss. The next hitter was Caleb Ketchup who rolled a ball up the third-base line. Pavin Parks stopped it but threw way high of first allowing Ketchup to reach and advance to third. Czech scored to make it 1-0 on the play. Washington scored again on a groundout plating Ketchup by Cole Fowler for his 26th RBI of the season. A few batters later, Collin Helms plated Ryan Ford, who had doubled, with a knock up the middle, making it 3-0.
Long continued to cruise and yielded just one baserunner in the next three innings on a sixth-inning base hit. He had six strikeouts through seven innings and had thrown 92 pitches.
Washington added in the eighth, loading the bases on two separate occasions and managing a run on a sacrifice fly by Connor Peek that made it 4-0 and scored Kyle Edwards, who singled to start the frame.
Maddox Long went back out for the eighth and surrendered three hits with his seventh strikeout being fired around that. That’s a new single-game career high in his first season in the pros. He ended up tagged for three runs, two of which came in after Kelvin Perez took over with a single in the infield and a wild pitch, charged to Long. He allowed three runs on five hits with the seven strikeouts and no walks en route to his third win. Perez fanned Alfredo Gonzalez to get the Wild Things out of the inning with a 4-3 lead intact.
Washington tacked on four in the ninth, starting the inning by having the first four batters reach. Cole Fowler posted an RBI single and later scored on a wild pitch before Antonio Monroy singled home a pair to make it 8-3. Michael Foltz Jr. came on the finish things in the bottom of the ninth and allowed a two-out single but nothing else.
The Wild Things and Lake Erie will conclude their weekend set Sunday afternoon in the final game between the two scheduled for the 2026 regular season at ForeFront Field at 1 p.m. Colt Anderson will toe the rubber for Washington.
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.
