Aug 5, 2018 5 min read

Coaches in every sport like to talk about the balance in their league, and how difficult it is to win on the road, and how any team can win on a given night.

However, by the end of the year, the usual contenders and pretenders rise to the top or drop to the bottom of the standings.

But this might not be like any other year in the Frontier League’s 26-year history. The numbers tell you this really is a league with balance.

Entering play Sunday, 11 of the 12 teams in the league were either in a playoff spot or within 6½ games of a postseason berth. In the West Division alone, the top five teams were separated by a mere three games.

That is what made the Wild Things’ 7-5 victory Sunday evening over River City so important. After splitting the first two games of the series, Washington couldn’t afford to lose a home series against another playoff contender, even if the Rascals are in the West.

The win capped a 4-2 homestand for the Wild Things against Normal and River City, but the final win didn’t come easily. Washington forged a 7-1 lead after six innings before having to fight off a River City charge in the late innings.

“It was a good homestand against the top two teams in the West,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said, relieved that his club was able to hold on after the Rascals sent the potential tying run to the plate in the eighth and ninth innings.

“If we can get to 53 wins, like we did last year, then we should be good for the playoffs. It’s going to come down to the final two weeks.”

There are four weeks left in the Frontier League’s regular-season. The game against River City was the final game against the West Division for Washington. The Wild Things (40-32) will close the season with 24 games against East Division rivals, beginning Tuesday at Joliet, which leads the East by one game over Washington.

The two division winners, plus the two remaining teams, regardless of division, with the best records will advance to the playoffs.

“It’s going to come down to whoever can play successfully on the road the next four weeks,” said River City manager Steve Brook, whose team is in the midst of a nine-game road trip before finishing with 15 of 18 at home.

“Who can play .500 on the road? That’s what it’s going to take because everyone in our league is good at home.”

River City had lost eight in a row on the road before pummeling Washington 14-3 Saturday night. In the series finale, Wild Things starter Michael Austin (1-2) pitched into the seventh inning, Conner Simonetti drove in three runs, Jake Eaton pitched out of a sticky situation in the seventh inning and Zach Strecker got a six-out save.

Washington didn’t have a hit against River City’s Dalton Roach until the fourth inning. Roach was drafted in the 21st round this summer by the Houston Astros, but did not sign.

In the fourth, the Wild Things had five hits and knocked Roach out of the game by scoring five times. Hector Roa had a two-run single, Simonetti added a two-run double just inside the first-base bag and down the right-field line and Brett Marr followed with a run-scoring single that made it 5-0.

After Trevor Archenbach’s RBI single in the fifth made it 5-1, Washington stretched its lead to 7-1 in the sixth. Carter McEachern doubled and scored on a Simonetti single. James Harris’ single through the left side of the infield scored Simonetti.

Austin cruised through the first six innings, allowing only four singles, but things got interesting in the seventh after he gave up a hit and walk to start the inning. Trevor Bradley, usually a starter, relieved Austin and hit a batter and issued two consecutive walks. Eaton entered the game and got out of the jam with the help of a double play but not before River City had pulled to within 7-4.

“Austin got tired,” Langebhn explained. “That has been his bugaboo. In the sixth and seventh innings he gets physically exhausted but he did a nice job.”

Austin walked two and struck out six.

The Rascals made it 7-5 in the ninth and had a runner on second base with one out when Achenbach fouled out to catcher Kyle Pollock on a popup at the backstop screen.

The Rascals argued, and were probably correct, that the ball hit the netting on its downward flight and should have been a foul ball.

Strecker then got a comebacker to the mound to secure his 16th save.

Extra bases

The Wild Things and Rascals split their six-game season series. … In Austin’s first seven starts, Washington averaged only 2.6 runs per game.