Jul 25, 2024 By Chris Dugan 3 min read

Wild Things starting pitcher Dariel Fregio pitched into the seventh inning and was credited with the win Thursday night in a game against Lake Erie that matched the top two teams in the Frontier League’s West Division.

Gyeongju Kim pitched the ninth inning for his league-leading 16th save.

While Fregio and Kim’s performances were instrumental in Washington’s 4-2 victory, what Wild Things reliever Christian James did played an even bigger role in the outcome, and all the sidearming right-hander had to show for it was a pat on the back for a job well done.

With Washington holding a 4-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning, Lake Erie loaded the bases with one out. Washington manager Tom Vaeth then walked to the pitcher’s mound and summoned James from the bullpen, inserting the all-star reliever into a full-blown jam.

All James did was strike out Sam Franco and Jarrod Watkins – the Crushers’ Nos. 9 and 1 hitters – to end the threat.

They were the most important outs of the game. And they came a half-inning after Washington scored three times to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.

Lake Erie pushed across one run in the top of the sixth to take the 2-1 lead. Watkins lined a triple just out of the reach of first baseman Tyreque Reed and down the right-field line before scoring on a wild pitch by Fregio (7-2). Fregio gave up five hits and two runs over 6⅓ innings.

For the game’s first five innings, Lake Erie’s 33-year-old Pedro Echemendia (2-3) baffled Washington hitters with an assortment of offspeed breaking balls and mid-80s fastballs. But in the sixth, it took Washington only six pitches to regain the lead and put two more runners on base.

Caleb McNeely hit Echemendia’s first pitch of the sixth for a single. Tommy Caufield followed and also hit the first pitch for an RBI triple that rolled to the wall in right centerfield, tying the score at 2-2. Wagner Lagrange gave Washington the lead with an RBI double to left centerfield on the second pitch of his at-bat, and Reed followed with a single that made it 4-2.

Reed went 4-for-4.

After James worked out of the jam in the seventh, Washington reliever Alex Carillo pitched a scoreless and hitless eighth inning and Kim tossed the ninth, though he gave up a bunt single and one-out walk.

Lake Erie took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Jack Harris, who was dropped from third to sixth in the batting order, hit a home run to center field.

Washington made it 1-1 in the fourth when Lagrange turned on a high inside fastball and lined it over the wall in left field for his sixth home run of the season.

The win pushed Washington’s lead in the West Division to 3½ games over the second-place Crushers, who are in the midst of a nine-game road trip.

Extra bases

Former Wild Things utility player Evan Berkey, who was released this week when Lagrange was activated off the injured list, has signed with Ottawa. Berkey played for the Titans last year. … Washington opens a three-game series tonight (7:05) at home against New York. The Boulders are one of two East Division teams – Sussex County is the other – that will play at Wild Things Park this year. New York entered Thursday in second place behind Quebec. … Fregio walked Lake Erie’s Burle Dixon in the seventh inning. It was Fregio’s first walk issued since July 6, a span of 24 2/3 innings.