Jul 11, 2021 4 min read

There’s no better way to cap a perfect homestand than with a come-from-behind walk-off victory. That’s exactly what the Wild Things did Sunday night.

Second baseman Nick Ward hit a three-run opposite-field double down the left-field line with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Washington a thrilling and stunning 5-4 victory over the New York Boulders.

The win capped a 6-0 homestand and came after New York had given the Wild Things an unexpected punch to the gut in the top of the ninth. With the Boulders down to their final strike, New York designated hitter Zach Kirtley belted a three-run homer to left field off Wild Things closer Zach Strecker, giving the Boulders a 4-2 lead and taking some of the air out of Wild Things Park.

“My hat’s off to the Boulders,” Ward said. “We had a little lull in the middle innings, allowing the Boulders to hang around. They got one really big swing in the ninth.”

That only set up Ward’s heroics, which came after New York’s hard-throwing closer Tanner Kiest (2-3) hit Hector Roa with a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth and walks to Cody Erickson and Brian Sharp loaded the bases.

Ward then laced a single down the left-field line, scoring Roa and pinch-runner Cam Phelts. Sharp, who started the play on first base, raced around the bases and scored as the relay throw to home plate skipped past catcher Gian Martellini, setting off a wild celebration.

“That felt good,” Ward said. “I knew (Kiest) was struggling to throw his slider over the plate, so I was thinking about nothing but the fastball. The left field was shading the line on me, but I knew he wouldn’t be able to get over the cut the ball off.”

“We had a couple of good at-bats in the ninth,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “Erickson battled back from 1-2 and Sharp kept battling away. With Tanner, you have to make him throw strikes.”

After playing home run derby Saturday night, when the teams combined for six home runs in a Washington victory, hits were precious 24 hours later. Washington mustered only three hits against New York starter Dan Warchansky and two relievers. The Wild Things manufactured a run in the first inning and took advantage of two throwing errors by the Boulders to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

New York outhit Washington 7-4 but couldn’t push a run across until the seventh inning. The Boulders left stranded six baserunners over the first three innings and 10 in the game.

Ward led off the bottom of the first by drawing a walk, stealing second base and moving to third on a flyout by Andrew Sohn. Right fielder Bralin Jackson laced a two-out single to left field to drive in Ward with the game’s first run.

In the second, Wild Things catcher Trevor Casanova, who had a big homestand with the bat, hit a one-out single, stole second base and moved to third when the throw from Boulders catcher Phil Capra went into center field. With two outs, Sharp’s routine grounder to second baseman Brandon Bingel was thrown away, allowing Casanova to score and make it 2-0.

That looked like it might be enough offense as Washington starter Daren Osby took a shutout into the seventh. He allowed only four hits, but issued four walks to go with eight strikeouts. He also hit a batter.

Boulders center fielder Milton Smith led off the seventh with a single and Jack Sundberg was hit by a pitch. The duo moved up on a bunt by Bingel, who was the final batter Osby faced.

Washington called upon reliever James Meeker, who allowed a sacrifice fly by Tucker Nathans that made it 2-1. Meeker struck out Kirtley to end the threat.

After a scoreless eighth, Washington turned the game over to Strecker (2-3), who is second on the Frontier League’s all-time saves list. Just as he did in the seventh, Smith led off with a single. He was bunted to second by Sundberg and moved to third on a ground ball that resulted in the inning’s second out.

Nathans, who hit a game-winning home run off Strecker the previous weekend, was intentionally walked, putting the potential winning run on base. That brought up Kirtley, who fell behind 1-2 in the count before delivering his sixth home run of the season.

“This game was great example of how important it is to get the first batter out,” Vaeth said. “Two guys failed and it came back to bite them.”