Wild Things’ lumber breaks out of slumber
The Wild Things’ offense ended its two-day hiatus and returned Sunday in full force, just in time for the Frontier League’s four-day all-star break.
Washington’s Jeff Liquori, Anthony Brocato, Andrew Czech and Caleb Ketchup, the Nos. 3-6 hitters in the lineup, combined for eight hits, two home runs, seven runs and six RBI as the Wild Things defeated Lake Erie, 8-2 before a sellout crowd of 3,411, the largest of the year.
The first game of the series was rained out Friday night, and Lake Erie shut out Washington 5-0 and 2-0 in a doubleheader Saturday, so Washington had not scored a run since Thursday and had been shut out by the Crushers four times in the season series.
Washington manager Tom Vaeth knew exactly what the Wild Things’ hitters needed to break out of a one-day slump. The Wild Things typically don’t take batting practice on Sundays, but they were at EQT Park early on this day.
“Got to have a much better approach,” Vaeth said. “We’re usually not here at noon on a Sunday and we usually don’t hit for an hour and 45 minutes like we did today. We made sure we got our work in.”
You know what they say about practice making perfect, right? The Wild Things’ hitters, who had not scored a run in two days, scored four times in the first inning against Lake Erie starter Chris McMahon (0-2), a former second-round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies. Connor Peek and Liquori both drew one-out walks, Brocato lined a single to left field to load the bases and Czech followed with a two-run double to right field.
Cole Fowler drove in Brocato and Czech with a single to right centerfield, giving Washington a 4-0 lead.
That was enough offense for starter Brit Kostura (1-1), a rookie from Baldwin Wallace who earned his first professional victory. Kostura pitched six innings, scattering six hits and one walk. The lefty allowed two runs and struck out three. He retired the last seven batters he faced.
Lake Erie scored single runs in the second and third innings off Kostura, getting an RBI double by Jacob Tobias and an RBI groundout by Alfredo Gonzalez.
Washington pushed its lead back to four runs at 6-2 when Brocato hit a towering two-run homer over the batter’s eye in center field in the bottom of the third. It was Brocato’s league-leading 17th home run.
Ketchup added a two-run homer in the fifth inning. It was Ketchup’s 10th home run of the season and perhaps the most impressive. It was hit the opposite way, to right center field, and smacked off the top row of advertising signage beyond the wall.
“We had one bad day,” Brocato said, explaining the Saturday night double shutouts. “It was the luck of the draw that it was a day we had two games. We didn’t feel any extra pressure today. We were very relaxed. We felt very confident that if those games (Saturday) were nine-inning games then we would have won both.”
Kostura was followed on the mound by Chad Coles, Mack Anglin and Landon Ginn, each tossing a scoreless inning.
“He was great today,” Brocato said of Kostura. “I was talking to our catcher, Isaias Quiroz, and he said Kostura has great pitchability. His ball moves every which way.”
Extra bases
Coles pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing one single and striking out a batter. Coles retired following the game. The Norwin High School and Youngstown State product was in his second season with the Wild Things. … Washington will play a three-game series at New York starting Friday before returning home to play Lake Erie again (July 21-23). … The Wild Things enter the all-star break with a 38-19 record and are in first place in the Central Division.