Wild Things’ latest win comes in rare fashion
Take a pick as to which play – a 14-pitch at-bat that ends in a walk or sacrifice fly that scores two runs – is more rare in baseball.
It doesn’t matter which one you choose because they both happened in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday night and were significant factors in the Wild Things’ 5-3 victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts.
“We’ll take wins any way we can get them,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said.
Washington trailed 3-2 entering the pivotal half inning and third baseman Tommy Caufield started the comeback by drawing a walk off Windy City lefthanded reliever Cal Djuraskovic (1-1), who had just entered the game. Robert Chayka advanced Caufield to second with a sacrifice bunt, then shortstop Abraham Sequera, the No. 9 hitter in the Wild Things’ batting order, stepped to the plate and he remained there for a long time.
Sequera fouled off eight two-strike pitches before drawing a walk on a 3-2 offering from Djuraskovic.
“We knew Windy City has a lot of quality starts, so they don’t get beat with their pitching,” Vaeth said. “We knew it might take something extraordinary, like that 14-pitch at-bat from Sequera. That was a helluva at-bat.”
Anthony Brocato then hit a rocket of a double off the left-field wall, scoring Caufield and tying the score as Sequera pulled into third base. Scotty Dubrule followed with a fly ball deep and over the head of Windy City center fielder Dan Robinson, who made a reaching, lunging catch as he approached the warning track. Sequera tagged and scored easily, and Brucato never stopped running from second base and also scored on the play to give Washington a 5-3 lead.
“Brocato getting down in the count and then hitting a double, Scotty putting the bat on the ball in a tough lefty-left matchup and great baserunning by Brocato. They all were big plays,” Vaeth said.
Washington used three relievers to get through the eighth and ninth innings to secure the win.
The Wild Things took a 1-0 lead on a solo home run by left fielder Wagner Lagrange in the first inning off Windy City starter Taylor Sugg.
The ThunderBolts answered with two in the top of the second against Washington starter Daniel Fregio, a rookie out of St. Leo University in Florida who was making his professional debut. Peyton Isaacson hit a leadoff double, moved up on a groundout and scored on Paul Coumoulos’ single. Coumoulos and Fregio were teammates last year at St. Leo.
Coumoulos moved up on a wild pitch and scored when Dan Robinson doubled off the left-field wall to give Windy City a 2-1 lead.
Those were the only runs allowed by Fregio, who won eight games this spring for St. Leo, a Division II school. He pitched five innings against the ThunderBolts, allowing three hits and one walk. He struck out four.
The game was tight and well-pitched, something of a rarity this year for the Wild Things.
Justin Goossen-Brown (3-0) was the winner with 2 2/3 innings of relief. He allowed one run, which came in the sixth when three singles, the last by Jonathan Waite, gave Windy City a 3-2 lead.
Christian James got the final out of the eighth inning and Lukas Young pitched the ninth for his sixth save.
Extra bases
The Wild Things open a three-game series tonight (7:05) against the Sussex County Miners. The Miners have played in the Frontier League for three years, and spent one in the same division as the Wild Things, but this will be the first time Sussex County has played a game in Washington. … To make room for Fregio on the roster, Washington placed Jack Dellinger, the starting pitcher Wednesday night, on the 7-day injured list. … Robinson had reached base safely in 11 consecutive plate appearances in the series before flying out in the eighth inning Thursday. … West Division manager Steve Brook of Gateway added seven players to the team for next week’s all-star game at Windy City. None of the additions were Wild Things.