Czech’s grand slam beats storm, Jackals
The sky above EQT Park was darkening rapidly late Sunday afternoon. The wind was picking up in intensity and fans were either popping open umbrellas or heading for the exits.
A storm was brewing and both the Wild Things and New Jersey Jackals were playing with a sense of urgency in the bottom of the seventh inning. The score was tied 2-2. The Wild Things wanted to take the lead before the storm hit while New Jersey wanted, at worst, to reach the potential stoppage of play with the score tied.
And as quickly as a flash of lightning, and with the boom of a clap of thunder, Andrew Czech’s powerful bat struck the baseball.
The result was a missile of a fly ball being sent over the wall in right field and into the parking lot for a one-out grand slam. It was the decisive blow in what turned out to be a 6-2 victory for Washington and a three-game series sweep for the Wild Things.
Play was stopped two batters after Czech’s home run – before the first pitch of the eighth inning could be thrown – and following a rain delay of 47 minutes the game was called.
Washington swept the three-game series, which featured Kobe Foster’s no-hitter with 14 strikeouts Friday night. It was only the second three-game sweep for the Wild Things this season and the first since the opening homestand against Schaumburg.
Washington took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Anthony Brocato hit a two-run homer to left field off New Jersey starter Caleb Debban. The home run, Brocato’s 10th of the season and sixth in six games, scored Connor Peek, who drew a one-out walk.
Between Brocato’s homer run and Czech’s grand slam, the Wild Things did plenty of squandering potential scoring opportunities, though they went five consecutive innings without a base hit.
Deeban, a lefty, gave up only one hit over his five-inning outing. He walked six but escaped further damage by striking out eight.
Washington had Caleb Ketchup at third base with no outs in the second inning but he was stranded there. Deeban walked Antonio Monroy and Peek to start the third but they did not advance.
Kyle Edwards and Ryan Ford were on third and second, respectively, with one out in the fourth but two groundouts stranded them in scoring position. In the sixth, Cole Fowler and Ketchup started the inning with walks but each player was thrown out trying to steal second base.
New Jersey tied the score at 2-2 in the fourth against Washington starter Colton Anderson. Felix Stevens led off with a triple down the right-field line and scored the Jackals’ first run of the game and second of the series on a groundout by Gustavo Sosa. Luis Encarnarcion hit a single and moved up on a wild pitch and fly ball. Noah Furcht drove Encarnarcion home with a two-out single that tied the score.
Anderson pitched five-plus innings, allowing five hits and three walks. He struck out two. Anderson exited with two runners on base and no outs in the sixth. Reliever Kelvin Perez (2-1) got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts and a tapper back to the mound.
In the bottom of the seventh, Washington catcher Isaias Quiroz hit a one-out shot off the left-field wall for what turned out to be a long single. Monroy followed with a walk and Peek beat out a cue ball shot to second base for an infield single that loaded the bases for Czech.
The Washington first baseman has thrived in bases-loaded situations in his career and did so again. He hit an 0-1 pitch from New Jersey reliever Joe Joe Rodriguez (1-1) for a no-doubt-about-it home run. It was the sixth grand slam hit by Czech since the start of the 2025 season. He hit a league-record four grand slams last year.
Extra bases
The Wild Things begin a three-game series at home Tuesday night against the Mississippi Mud Monsters. Zach Kirby (3-0) will pitch the opener for Washington. … Second baseman Graham Brown, who started the year with the Wild Things, was promoted to Class AAA by the Minnesota Twins. … Brown was batting .304 in Class A after having his contract purchased from the Wild Things last month. … New Jersey second baseman Duante Stuart was a late scratch from the starting lineup. … If Florence won at Gateway Sunday night, the Frontier League would have four 20-win teams, three of them in the Central Division, which Washington leads with a 22-9 record.