Wild Things win in sudden death, move into first place
The Frontier League’s regular season is a 116-day marathon, running from early May to the last day in August. It will take all 116 of them to determine the Central Division champion.
Washington and Lake Erie will sprint to the finish line in different time zones Sunday. The Wild Things will have a head start, thanks to the results of play Saturday night.
The Wild Things defeated Down East in the Frontier League’s quirky sudden-death inning – the 11th – while Lake Erie lost 2-1 at Joliet. Washington’s win and Lake Erie’s loss moves the Wild Things into sole possession of first place in the division with one day remaining.
Washington will win its 10th division title if it defeats Down East in the regular-season finale Sunday (5:35 p.m.). If Down East wins, then the only way for the Wild Things to win the division is if Lake Erie loses at Joliet in a game with a 7:05 p.m. start time. Lake Erie will have a tiebreaker edge over Washington because the Crushers will play only 94 of its 96 scheduled games and will have the better winning percentage, which is the first tiebreaker.
Both Washington and Lake Erie have clinched playoff berths. One team will be the division champion and No. 2 seed in the Midwest Conference and the other will be a wild card and the No. 4 seed.
“You always want to be playing for something at this time of year, and we had been hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “We’re going to be playing games next week that are meaningful. So every pitch, every at-bat (Sunday) will be good preparation.”
Washington moved into sole possession of first place for only the second day since July 20. The Wild Things got there by overcoming a 3-1 deficit against Down East. They pulled to within 3-2 in the sixth on an RBI single by Cole Fowler and forced the tiebreaker inning when Tommy Caufield drove in Fowler in the ninth.
Caufield’s hit, a clean single through the right side of the infield, came in a pinch-hitting role. He has been bothered by an abductor strain and had not played in a week. He did take batting practice Friday and Saturday.
“He looked good those two days,” Vaeth said.
So after Fowled led off the ninth with a single against Down East reliever Jackson Hicks – who played for the Wild Things this year – and was bunted to second base by Kyle Edwards, Vaeth didn’t hesitate to call upon Caufield to pinch hit against his former teammate.
“I never faced him in spring training,” Caufield said of Hicks. “I only knew what his pitch mix was. I just trusted my prep work.”
Caufield’s RBI hit tied the score at 3-3 but the Wild Things won because of its pitching. Starter Regi Grace turned in a quality start, allowing three runs (two earned) over six innings. Relievers Chad Coles, Hector Garcia and Andrew Herbert followed and were spectacular.
Coles threw two scoreless and hitless innings. Garcia pitched a scoreless ninth inning and returned to the mound for the 10th. Down East never advanced tiebreaker runner Yassel Pino from second base as Garcia got two popouts and a strikeout.
Washington couldn’t score in the 10th, either, though tiebreaker runner Eddie Hacopian moved to third with one out on a bunt by Andrew Czech. A strikeout and groundout stranded Hacopian and forced the sudden death inning.
As the home team, Washington chose to play defense and brought Herbert (7-3) in to pitch. Down East started the inning with Ali LaPread as the tiebreaker runner at first base. After a flyout, pinch-hitter Elias Stevens singled to right field and LaPread moved to second base. Herbert, however, ended the game with two strikeouts as the Wild Things moved back into first place.
Washington’s three relievers combined for five scoreless innings, two of which were tiebreaker innings.
“There is some pride in winning the division, and it changes the playoff seeding,” Vaeth said. “So, if needed, it’s all hands on deck (Sunday) with our pitching.”