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Wild Things trading for future

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The Wild Things’ fire sale ended Monday, at the Frontier League’s transactions deadline, with the trade of starting pitcher Shawn Sanford to the West Division-leading Schaumburg Boomers.

Since Aug. 3, Washington has traded four players, in separate deals. Each player had been with the team since opening day. In each trade, all the Wild Things have been given in exchange is a player to be named later.

Prior to Washington’s game Tuesday night against the Gateway Grizzlies, Wild Things manager Bart Zeller was quick to say that even with the recent flurry of trades aimed at the future, his team has not given up on the current season. Though Washington is out of playoff contention, the Wild Things can still have a say in who does make the postseason.

“We met with the players and stressed that point,” Zeller said. “It’s easy to say we’ll be playing the spoiler. We’ll try to do our best to make life miserable for those teams. We’ll give it all we have for nine innings.”

The Wild Things needed only a half-inning to make the night painful for Gateway. After the Grizzlies forged a four-run lead in the top of the first inning, the Wild Things struck back for five runs in the bottom of the frame and went on to an 8-6 come-from-behind victory at Consol Energy Park.

It was Washington’s second consecutive come-from-behind win over a playoff contender. The Wild Things defeated Florence, 10-8, Sunday night.

Gateway began the night in second place in the West Division, three games behind Schaumburg, which lost 4-0 at Southern Illinois. The Grizzlies and Miners are now tied for the final wild-card spot with 14 games remaining.

The Grizzlies took advantage of three walks to begin the game by Washington starting pitcher Shawn Blackwell (4-7), a three-run double by Landon Hernandez and a run-scoring single by Jose Flores to build the 4-0 lead. The advantage lasted for only one out.

Shain Stoner led off the bottom of the first by drawing a walk off Gateway starter Tucker Jensen (6-7). A.J. Nunziato followed with a triple to right centerfield to make the score 4-1. C.J. Beatty then closed the gap to 4-3 with a two-run homer to right field, his 16th home run of the season.

After Quincy Latimore singled and Mark Samuelson popped out for the inning’s first out, Jovan Rosa golfed a low and inside pitch from Jensen over the left-field wall for a two-run homer and a stunning 5-4 Washington lead four outs into the game.

“The way the guys came back in the first inning set the tone for the whole ballgame,” Zeller said. “I’m proud of the way the guys came back.”

Designated hitter Nick Boggan, one of the rookies who were signed to fill vacated roster spots after the recent trades, hit his first professional home run, a solo shot to left field that made the score 6-4 in the second inning.

“This is a chance for a guy to step up and show what he can do,” Zeller said. “Nick has shown that he can put the barrel on the ball. What I like is that he already has a lot of line-drive hits, which shows that he’s not home run-happy.”

Gateway pulled to within 6-5 in the top of the fifth, but again Washington answered quickly. A bases-loaded wild pitch scored Stoner, and Scott Kalamar’s infield single to shortstop sent home Beatty and pushed Washington’s lead to 8-5.

After the rough first inning, Blackwell was superb, pitching five innings for the win. Four Washington relievers combined for four innings of one-run relief and worked out of bases-loaded jams in the sixth and seventh innings, the latter when the Grizzlies scored their final run.

“You don’t like to start the game by giving up baserunners, but Blackwell did a very good job in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings,” Zeller said. “He attacked hitters and made them put it in play. The first inning has just been his Achilles’ heel.”

Zeller explained that Sanford, who was the ace of Washington’s pitching staff with an 8-5 record and 3.01 ERA, was traded because the Tampa, Fla., resident indicated that he would play out his option and not return to the Washington next season.

“We gave Shawn Sanford a chance to play for a contending team. It always has been a goal of his to play for a championship team,” Zeller said. “He was playing out his option, so if we waited, then we would have been left with nothing.”

Washington already knows who it will be receiving from Schaumburg, but that player will not switch teams until the offseason. The same arrangements have not been made in the other recent trades that sent outfielder Darian Sandford to Joliet and relief pitchers Orlando Santos and Anthony Collazo to Evansville.

“In this league, you can do a player-to-be-named trade a couple of ways,” Zeller pointed out. “Sometimes a team protects 15 players, and the other team gets its choice of one player from the remaining nine on the roster. You’re not getting the bottom of the barrel. Sometimes one of the bottom nine can help you. The other way is to agree upon a player. We know who we’re getting from Schaumburg.”

Washington left fielder Stewart Ijames, who against Gateway because of illness. … Washington activated left-handed relief pitcher Matt Phillips from the disabled list. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning. … Gateway catcher Landon Hernandez threw out three Washington baserunners, each attempting to steal second base.

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