McNeely powers Wild Things in series opener
Perhaps leadoff hitter Caleb McNeely was inspired by his former teammates at West Virginia University, who won the Tuscon Regional last weekend and put the Mountaineers in the Super Regionals for the first time in the school’s 132-year baseball history.
McNeely, a center fielder who played at WVU last year before joining the Wild Things during the summer, hit a grand slam and finished with five RBI Tuesday night, powering Washington to an 8-2 series-opening victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts.
McNeely figured in almost all the runs for the Wild Things, who began the night tied with Schaumburg for first place in the Frontier League’s West Division. He reached on an infield single to begin the first inning against Windy City starter Buddie Pindel (2-2) and moved all the way to third when he advanced two bases on a passed ball. He scored when Tommy Caufield grounded out, giving Washington a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, McNeely hit a groundout to second base, scoring J.C. Santini from third and giving Washington a 2-0 lead.
The Wild Things, despite a dominant pitching performance by starter Kobe Foster (3-0) – six shutout innings with three hits allowed and eight strikeouts – were leading by only 3-0 in the fifth when McNeely stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. McNeely took a pitch from Windy City lefty reliever Tyler Naumann and lofted it the opposite way to right field. The ball didn’t scream home run when it left McNeely’s bat, but Thunderbolts right fielder Kingston Liniak turned and ran back to the wall, looked up and watched the baseball carry into the back wall of advertising for a grand slam that opened a 7-0 lead.
Extra bases
Robert Chayka had an RBI double for Washington in the third inning and Wagner Lagrange drove in a run with a single in the eighth. … The Wild Things had 13 hits. McNeely led the way, going 3-for-5. … Pindel gave up six hits and three runs in four innings. All three of the runs were unearned. … Former Wild Things outfielder Cam Phelts is the ThunderBolts’ leadoff hitter. He went 1-for-5 and scored a run.