Jul 3, 2016 4 min read

Pitcher Brian O’Keefe is the only player on the Wild Things’ roster who is a true rookie – a player with no professional experience prior to this season.

O’Keefe, however, looked every bit like a seasoned and crafty veteran Sunday as he impressively carved through the Florence Freedom batting order during his first professional start.

The left-handed O’Keefe pitched six strong innings, allowing just four hits and one run, and third baseman Rick Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking three-run homer as the Wild Things won the Frontier League series finale with the Freedom 4-1 in record time.

The game lasted only 1 hour and 47 minutes, making it the fastest nine-inning Wild Things game played at Consol Energy Park and the second-quickest in team history.

O’Keefe (2-0) had much to do with that. The native of Milford, Conn., and former standout at NCAA Division II Bridgeport University, did not walk a batter and had a career-high eight strikeouts.

“Pitching ahead in the count was the key,” O’Keefe said.

O’Keefe had made 10 relief appearances and entered Sunday with a 1.88 ERA. He threw two innings of scoreless relief Thursday night against Gateway.

“I felt fresh,” O’Keefe said. “Throwing a few nights ago was just like a bullpen session between starts. I felt like I could have gone the whole way.”

Washington manager Gregg Langbehn pulled O’Keefe after 90 pitches and with a 4-1 lead.

“I would have been happy to get four innings out of him,” Langbehn admitted. “The most pitches he’s thrown in a game so far had been 40 or 45.”

The lone rocky stretch for O’Keefe came in the second inning. After striking out the first two batters, he gave up a single to Isaac Wenrich – the Florence player who suffered a heart attack in March – and it was followed by a run-scoring double to the gap in left centerfield by Garrett Vail. That tied the score at 1-1.

“He’s been earning his innings,” Langbehn said of his pitcher. “I told him from Day 1 that I would ease him into it, as I do with all rookies. But he keeps earning his innings.”

O’Keefe and Florence starter Davis Adkins were locked in a pitching duel involving rookies. Washington’s hitters finally solved Adkins, a sidearmer who threw two innings of relief in the series opener Friday night, in the sixth. Austin Wobrock, the No. 9 batter in the order, drew a one-out walk and moved to second when center fielder Andrew Heck (2-for-3) singled.

Rodriguez then pulled an Adkins pitch that was left up in the strike zone down the left-field line and over the back row of advertising signage for a three-run homer.

“Ricky was looking for a certain pitch and got it,” Langbehn said. “He did a good job not to pull that foul.”

Adkins, who threw a complete game, walked two and struck out eight.

Given a three-run lead to work with, Washington reliever Kolin Stanley recorded a rare nine-out save. Stanley combined with O’Keefe to retire the final 19 Florence batters.

“And that’s a good hitting team,” Langbehn said.

Adkins retired 13 consecutive Washington hitters at one stretch. The Wild Things took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Heck led off with a double, advanced on a Rodriguez groundout and scored on Bryan Haar’s sacrifice fly. The Wild Things didn’t get their second hit of the game until Logan Uxa singled in the fifth inning.

“That was Wild Things baseball – good pitching and defense – plus a little (former Baltimore Orioles manager) Earl Weaver ball with the three-run homer,” Langbehn said.

The fastest game in Wild Things history is 1 hour, 46 minutes on June 25, 2009 at Traverse City. Washington won that game, 2-1, behind the pitching of Jason Neitz. … Prior to the game, center fielder and leadoff hitter Jamal Austin retired. Austin was Washington’s third-leading hitter with a .273 batting average, seven doubles, two triples and a team-leading 13 stolen bases. Washington played the game with only 22 active players, which is the league minimum. … The Wild Things begin a three-game series Tuesday night at East Division-leader Joliet. Washington is in second place, 3½ games behind the Slammers.