Wild Things win Game 5, advance to finals
QUEBEC CITY – The Wild Things are playing for a Frontier League championship.
Bralin Jackson drove in two runs and Rob Whalen struck out 11 over eight shutout innings as the Wild Things won Game 5 of the best-of-5 Can-Am Conference finals, 4-0, over Equipe Quebec on {span}Sunday night {/span}at Stade Canac.
Washington won the final two games of the series and saved its best pitching performance for the decisive Game 5.
The Wild Things will play the Schaumburg Boomers in the Frontier League’s championship series. Game 1 is Tuesday night at Schaumburg. The Boomers will host the first two games in the best-of-5 series with the Wild Things hosting Game 3 on Friday and Games 4 and 5, if necessary.
This will be Washington’s fourth trip to the finals in 19 seasons. The Wild Things are still looking for their first Frontier League championship.
After winning 5-3 Saturday in Game 4, Washington won Game 5 by scoring four runs in the fourth inning and leaving the rest to Whalen and reliever B.J. Sabol.
Singles by Nick Ward, Andrew Sohn and Trevor Casanova loaded the bases with no outs, and Jackson gave Washington the only runs it would need with a two-run single to left field. An RBI single by Grant Heyman and run-scoring error on a grounder hit by Hector Roa made it 4-0 and chased Quebec starter Codie Paiva.
Whalen, the first former major leaguer to play for the Wild Things, was dominant. He allowed only five hits in eight innings, did not issue a walk and struck out 11. He threw 114 pitches. Quebec had two runners on base with no outs in the eighth, but Whalen ended the threat with a flyout and two strikeouts.
Sabol pitched the ninth, striking out all three batters he faced. Whalen and Sabol combined on a five-hit shutout.