Jun 12, 2022 4 min read

The tension-filled weekend series between the Wild Things and Schaumburg Boomers – a rematch of last year’s Frontier League finals – had a little of everything. There were four home runs by Washington’s Andrew Czech, a well-pitched shutout Friday night, a benches-clearing incident Saturday and a walk-off victory Sunday night.

This time, unlike last September, it was the Wild Things who won the series.

Newcomer Jared Mang hit a clutch two-run game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, and two batters later Wagner Lagrange doubled to deep right centerfield to drive in Scotty Dubrule with the winning run as Washington edged the Boomers, 6-5.

The Wild Things trailed from the first batter as Schaumburg’s Alec Craig led off the game with a home run. But Washington chipped away at an early three-run deficit and took its only lead on the contest’s final at-bat.

“That’s a real good win,” Wild Things manager Tom Vaeth said. “My guys didn’t quit. They don’t want to lose. I know how good we can be, but sometimes it takes guys time to believe in themselves.”

The win keeps Washington in first place, a half-game ahead of Evansville in the West Division. It was the Wild Things’ seventh consecutive series win.

Schaumburg scored three runs in the top of the first inning, getting Craig’s leadoff homer and two-run shot from Matt Bottcher off starting pitcher Daren Osby, who went six innings.

The Wild Things closed to within 3-2 on a sacrifice fly by Mang in the third and Czech’s solo home run to left field in the fourth off Boomers starter Blake Stelzer. It was Czech’s fourth home run of the series after entering without a round-tripper in Washington’s first 24 games.

Schaumburg scratched across runs in the sixth and eighth and led 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth. Washington stranded two runners against Boomers ace reliever Darrell Thompson and the situation appeared bleak.

In the bottom of the ninth, Schaumburg replaced Thompson with Thomas Nicoll (0-2), who walked Nick Ward to start the inning. That brought up Mang, who was acquired Friday from Lake Erie to complete an earlier trade. Who said timing isn’t everything in baseball?

After Nick Ward drew a leadoff walk, Mang hit a hanging breaking ball from Nicoll over the wall in left field to tie the score at 5-5.

“I was just trying to keep the line moving,” explained Mang. “I was trying to get the breaking ball more than anything. … I knew we’d keep fighting. We were trying to string a few hits together. That’s all it takes.”

Dubrule then singled through the left side of the infield and Lagrange hit a high fastball deep to right centerfield.

“This team knows how to win,” Mang said. “It’s going to be fun to be part of it.”

Lukas Young (3-0), the third Wild Things pitcher, was the winner with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

The day began with some good news for Washington as starting pitcher Hayden Pearce had his contract purchased by the Cincinnati Reds.

Pearce (3-0, 3.38) is the 46th Wild Things player to be sold to a major league organization. He had 25 strikeouts and eight walks.

“We’re real happy for Hayden. We’re happy any time a guy can move on to bigger things,” Vaeth said.

“He’s a guy who is not afraid to throw the ball over the plate. That was his reputation and why we went and got him. He has a three-pitch mix that he can throw for strikes.”

As of Sunday night, the Wild Things had not heard about any suspensions from the Saturday incident that sparked the benches to clear, which followed Washington pitcher Sandro Cabrera taking a swipe at Schaumburg’s Chase Dawson after an inning-ending groundout.

Washington did sign another pitcher, rookie Shemar Page, who was a two-way player at Grambling, where he struck out 143 in 104 innings and batted .351 this spring. Vaeth said Page will pitch one of the games this week at Joliet.