Aug 22, 2024 By Chris Dugan 3 min read

The latest win for the surging Wild Things, a 6-1 pasting of the Joliet Slammers on Thursday night, came with a few significant firsts attached.

The victory has the Wild Things awakening today with a record of 60-26, which is the high-water mark for the franchise that dates back to 2002. Never before has a Washington team been 34 games above .500. The 2005 team was 33 games above .500 at one point late in that season before finishing 62-32.

The Wild Things also became the first team in the Frontier League to win 60 games this year and reduced their magic number for clinching the West Division title to 4. Any combination of Washington wins or Gateway losses totaling four over the final 10 days of the regular season will give the Wild Things their ninth division championship and third in four years.

What the victory was mostly about was pitcher Kobe Foster and outfielder Baron Radcliff.

Foster (10-1) continued to do what he has done for years, which simply is win. The lefthander from Winchester, Tenn., was masterful again, tossing four-hit ball over eight innings. He walked two and struck out six. Joliet did not have a baserunner reach third until the eighth inning.

The only run Foster allowed was unearned, the result of a two-out throwing error by the pitcher in the eighth inning.

Foster improved his record over three seasons with the Wild Things to 25-7. Combined with his days at Tennessee Wesleyan and a season of winter ball in Australia, Foster has a record of 54-10.

Foster got plenty of help on this night from Radcliff, a recent pickup from the Philadelphia Phillies farm system. The 6-4 left fielder gave Washington a 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the third inning off Joliet starter Jake Armstrong (4-8). Radcliff reached base with a shattered-bat single in the fifth inning and scored on a throwing error when Caleb McNeely swiped second base, making it 2-0. Radcliff drove in a run in the seventh inning with a double to left centerfield.

Radcliff finished the night with four hits, three RBI and was a triple shy of the cycle.

The Wild Things broke open a close game with a three-run seventh inning. Leading 3-0, Washington’s first four batters reached base with Tyreque Reed hitting a two-run single on an 0-2 pitch.

Extra bases

Nick MaDonald pitched the ninth inning for Washington and retired all three batters he faced. … Third baseman Tommy Caufield had two hits and made two terrific defensive plays. … Washington begins a six-game road trip tonight at Lake Erie. … Gateway entered Thursday with a record of 20-7 since July 21 but the Grizzlies have not gained a game in the standings on Washington.