Sep 5, 2024 2 min read

AVON, Ohio – Ricardo Sanchez drove in the game’s only runs and three Washington pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout as the Wild Things blanked Lake Erie 2-0 Thursday night in Game 1 of the best-of-3 Frontier League West Division playoff series.

The Wild Things will attempt to close out the series and advance to the league finals for the fifth time in franchise history when they play Game 2 Saturday night (7:05) at home. Standing-room-only tickets remain available. Game 3, if necessary, will be played Sunday, also in Washington.

Sanchez, the Wild Things’ catcher, went 3-for-4 and delivered the game’s biggest hit in the second inning. Sanchez smacked a two-out, two-run single that scored Brandon McIlwain and Ethan Wilder with the only runs of the contest.

That was all the offense Washington starter Kobe Foster and relievers Christian James and Gyeongju Kim needed. Foster, who had a 10-1 record during the regular season, fired seven shutout innings, allowing three hits. He did not walk a batter but did hit one. Foster struck out six. He threw 99 pitches, of which 72 were strikes.

James pitched the eighth inning, getting two strikeouts. Kim retired all three batters he faced in the ninth, one on strikes.

Lake Erie advanced only one runner to third base, that in the sixth inning. The Crushers, who scored 10 runs in a victory over Gateway in the wild-card game Tuesday, did not have an inning in which they put two runners on base.

In the top of the second, McIlwain hit a two-out single off Lake Erie starter Anthony Escobar and Wilder followed with a book-rule double that moved McIlwain to third base. Sanchez then delivered his clutch two-run single to center field. Sanchez also had a double in the game.

Escobar gave up five hits and one walk over six innings. He struck out six.

Washington had seven hits. Designated hitter Tyreque Reed went 2-for-4.