Wild Things lose in tiebreaker
AUGUSTA, N.J. — The Wild Things overcame a nine-game deficit last year to edge the Sussex County Miners for a division title.
This year, the Wild Things and Miners are in different division in the Frontier League but that doesn’t mean they can’t play interesting games.
Sussex County’s Ariel Sandoval scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Jawaun Harris in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Miners a 5-4 win over the Wild Things in a series opener Tuesday night at Skylands Stadium.
The winning run came in the Frontier League’s tiebreaker format. Starting in the 10th inning, each half-inning begins with a runner on second base.
With the score tied 4-4, Washington began the top of the 10th with a runner on second but was unable to advance him because of a groundout to the pitcher and two strikeouts.
The Miners began the 10th with Sandoval on second base and he advanced on a sacrifice bunt. That set up Harris’ sacrifice fly.
Sussex County scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning against Washington starter Hayden Pearce. The Wild Things scored in the fifth on an RBI single by Ian Walters.
Sussex County made it 4-1 with a run in the sixth, but Washington struck for three runs in the top of the eighth to tie. L.G. Castillo had an RBI grounder that resulted in an error, and Scotty Dubrule followed with a run-scoring groundout.
First baseman Andrew Czech then hit a single to center field that scored Castillo and made it 4-4.
Neither manager was around to see the finish. Washington’s Tom Vaeth was ejected in the top of the eighth inning. Sussex County’s Bobby Jones was ejected in the middle of the eighth.