Hustle leads Wild Things to walk-off win over Lake Erie
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Members of the Wild Things surround Carter McEachern (9) after he drove home Roman Collins for a walk-off win against the Lake Erie Crushers.
Wild Things Ryan Cox gets the out at second against Crushers’ Aaron Hill.
Wild Things Reydel Medina gets a hit in a game against the Lake Erie Crushers.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Wild Things Roman Collins scores the run that gives his team the walk-off win over the Lake Erie Crushers.
The Wild Things have won 51 games this season in variety of ways.
Washington’s victory Sunday night was arguably the Wild Things’ most important of the season and their first that was put in the win column primarily because they hustled from home plate to first base – three times – on grounders that traveled all of a combined 150 feet.
Lake Erie backup catcher Mason Brown’s hurried throw on a tapper in front of home plate by Carter McEachern was low and bounced off the glove of first baseman Doug Trimble with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, allowing Roman Collins to race home from third base with the game-winning run in Washington’s 4-3 victory before 2,575 on Fan Appreciation Night.
The win gives Washington a half-game lead in the Frontier League’s East Division over second-place Joliet. The Slammers, because of a scheduling quirk, had Sunday off and will not play again until a Wednesday doubleheader at Traverse City.
The Wild Things, who avoided being swept at home by Lake Erie for the second time, close the regular season with two road series beginning Tuesday at Schaumburg. The Wild Things and Crushers will play next weekend in Avon, Ohio.
“(Lake Erie) has had our number of late, so to get a win before we go on the road is big for us,” said McEachern.
Washington overcame a late 3-2 deficit, pulling even in the eighth inning when Reydel Medina, who had three hits and three stolen bases, scored on a wild pitch. It was the second time in the game that Medina scored on wild pitch.
In the 10th, Roman Collins led off with what appeared to be a routine grounder to Lake Erie second baseman Derek Perry. The speedy Collins, however, hustled out of the batter’s box and caused Hill to rush a throw that sailed wide of Trimble to the home-plate side.
Medina followed with a chopper in front of the plate that Brown fielded. He had to hurry to retire Medina at first base as Collins advanced to second base.
After Hector Roa was intentionally walked, Kyle Pollock bounced into a fielder’s choice as Crushers third baseman Nick Roark made a nice sliding play and threw out Roa at second base as Collins moved to third.
The Crushers brought in Logan Lombana, their seventh pitcher of the game, to face McEachern, who just like Medina, hit a tapper about 20 feet in front of home plate. Brown fielded the ball but McEachern’s hustle forced the catcher to rush his throw and Trimble was unable to handle the short hop as Collins scored.
“Three times in that inning we hustled down to first base,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn pointed out. “Their second baseman looked up and saw that Collins was two steps from the base and he rushed his throw. Then Medina got down the line quickly and maybe that had something to do with the throw on McEachern.
“Sometimes it’s the little things that win you games. We had to scratch and claw for everything we got against them.”
McEachern agreed that hustling to first base was the pivotal part of the key inning.
“Speed kills,” he said. “You have to run everything out and see what happens. We put the ball in play and forced them to make a play. We got a win out of it.”
Zach Strecker (6-4) pitched two shutout innings of relief for the win.
Lake Erie broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth with three consecutive two-out singles, the last by Zach Racusin. Washington stole the tying run in the eighth when Medina reached on an infield single and stole both second and third bases, the latter with two outs. The wild pitch by Seth Lucio tied the score.
Washington had a chance to win in the ninth as it had Chase Simmons at second base with one out. Lake Erie reliever Louis Cohen (4-1) ended the threat with two strikeouts.
“I think it is going to be good to get out on the road and catch our breath,” Langbehn said. “It was not a great homestand but not because of a lack of effort. We just didn’t score.
“We’re still in first place. That’s the benefit of starting out 22-10 and then winning eight straight series late in the season.”
Extra bases
Washington’s magic number to make the playoffs was reduced to 3. … The Wild Things hold the tiebreaker over Joliet. Lake Erie slipped to five games out of first place and one game out of the final playoff berth. .. Simmons had an RBI single in the fourth inning.