Wild Things Snatch Lead Back in Middle Stages, Add and Hang On in Series Opener at Schaumburg
SCHAUMBURG, Il. (July 3) – The Wild Things responded ton middle-inning adversity and counter-punched the Boomers to take the series opener in front of a tremendous crowd to start the weekend in Schaumburg. Behind a five-run fifth which countered a five-run fourth by the Boomers, the Wild Things snatched the lead back and added to win 9-6 to start the series.
Washington opened the scoring and ended up ahead 2-0 with singular runs in the third and fourth innings before the game turned funky. The Wild Things got the game’s first baserunner in their end of the third on a one-out double by Kyle Edwards. He scored from second two batters later on an RBI single by Antonio Monroy, his 20th RBI of the 2026 campaign. Andrew Czech’s 14th long ball of the year and the 101st of his career put Washington in front at 2-0. That homer for Czech allowed him to break his tie for third with Stephen Holdren and sit alone in third in league history in home runs.
Schaumburg plated five runs with the help of four uncharacteristic free passes from Kobe Foster and used a two-run homer by 2025 Frontier League MVP Anthony Calarco and a three-run double by Cole Smith to take a 5-2 lead after four frames.
The Wild Things responded with five of their own, all coming in with two away in the next half to re-take the lead at 7-5. Anthony Brocato doubled home Antonio Monroy, Jeff Liquori singled in Brocato and scored on a triple by Caleb Ketchup, and Cole Fowler hit a two-run homer to complete the comeback in the fifth. Calarco’s second homer of the night brought Schaumburg back within a run at 7-6 in the bottom of the fifth frame.
Connor Peek gave Washington a pad of the lead with an RBI single to center in the sixth making it 8-6 before Kobe Foster stranded two runners in the sixth after going back out well over 100 pitches to try and finish six for the Wild Things on the mound. He did, and Washington turned to the pen in the seventh with Chad Coles, leaving Foster in line for his sixth win of the campaign.
Coles worked a 1-2-3 seventh with a strikeout and used only 10 pitches to get through it unscathed. Michael Foltz Jr. walked his leadoff man in the eighth and then got a double play and an eighth-inning-ending strikeout.
Jeff Liquori added an RBI double for insurance in the ninth inning making it 9-6 and scoring Brocato, who doubled in the frame.
Landon Ginn struck out the first two batters of the ninth before allowing a pair of softly-hit singles, bringing Calarco back in as the tying run at the plate. Ginn induced a ground ball, as Antonio Monroy made the play over to first to seal the series-opening win.
The Wild Things and Boomers meet on the 250th birthday of our great country tomorrow in the middle game at Wintrust Field with first pitch scheduled for 7:30/6:30 p.m. CDT. Jack Brodksy will take the ball for Washington and Ross Thompson for Schaumburg.
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.
