Wild Things sweep by New Jersey
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. – Washington finished off a sweep with a 7-4 victory over the New Jersey Jackals in Sunday’s second game of a doubleheader at Yogi Berra Stadium, winning its sixth consecutive game against the Jackals and third in a row overall to round out the road trip.
In the completion of Saturday’s game that was stopped because of rain, the Wild Things got strong pitching from Ryan Hennen, who came on to relieve Daren Osby, who had pitched two perfect innings before the game’s suspension. After leading 4-0 at the time of the suspension, Washington eventually won, 7-0.
The second game was a Johnny Whole Staff game for the Wild Things as each of the seven Washington pitchers that threw worked one inning. It started with Ben Vicini, who punched out two and allowed a hit in the first but put up a zero. John Murphy then worked a scoreless, one-two-three second with a strikeout before Washington struck to open up the scoring in the third.
A double by Brian Sharp pushed Cody Young, who had singled to lead the inning off, to third. Nick Ward lifted a sac fly to left to score Young and open the scoring. Sharp scored on Trevor Casanova’s second hit of the ball game, an RBI single later in the inning. Washington added two in the fourth after Jesus Balaguer tossed a zero on the board. Cody Young picked up his first Washington RBI before Ward lifted another sac fly.
New Jersey got on the board against BJ Sabol, who fanned two in his inning, when Jason Agresti hit his fifth home run of the season. Washington got the run right back in the top of the fifth when Bralin Jackson doubled home Casanova, who had singled for his third hit of the game. The Jackals would respond to that and get back within two in the bottom of the fifth, one on a bases-loaded groundout by Dalton Combs and the other on an infield single by Demetrius Moorer.
The Wild Things came back immediately with a response by getting their first five batters on base in the sixth. The first three netted the Wild Things two runs. Andrew Czech became the first Wild Thing to hit double digit home runs with a blast to right field for his 10th of the year. Cody Young picked up his third hit by doubling before Brian Sharp hit a hard ground ball that popped up into right off the first-base bag for a double to score Young.
James Meeker ran his scoreless innings streak to 24.1 innings in the sixth despite a leadoff double. New Jersey got a run on two hits and a double play in the seventh against Zach Strecker to bring the game to its final of 7-4.
{span}Nick Ward got the Wild Things going in the first game, doubling to the right field corner before advancing to third on a wild pitch and scoring on an Andrew Sohn RBI single to center. In the second, Brian Sharp doubled home Andrew Czech from first with two outs to make it 2-0, Grant Heyman lifted a two-run homer, his fourth of the year, to right making it 4-0 Washington.{/span}
{span}{span}Daren Osby pitched two perfect frames to start his night, but before he could take the mound for the third, lightning and rain came and didn’t let up. The game was suspended in the middle of the third inning and resumed yesterday. {/span}{/span}
Washington returns home for a three-game homestand and series with Équipe Québec starting Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at Wild Things Park. The Wild Things have a Frontier League season long eight-game home win streak going and they’ll look to make it four in a row overall Tuesday night.