Wild Things edge Windy City to take series
CRESTWOOD Ill. – It got a little hairy in the ninth, but Wild Things closer Andrew Herbert struck out Windy City’s Grant Thoroman on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded to secure a 7-5 victory for Washington Thursday afternoon at Ozinga Field.
The Wild Things (34-29) took two out of three from the Thunderbolts (21-42).
Herbert yielded a run in the ninth, which ended a string of 10 scoreless innings, but escaped to pick up his ninth save.
Washington scored two runs apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Eddie Hacopian had an RBI triple and Ben Watson knocked Hacopian in with a single to give Washington a 3-2 lead.
Cole Fowler plated a run with a single in the sixth and Kyle Edwards hit a sacrifice fly, which gave him his first RBI as a pro.
Fowler also had an RBI single in the first.
Windy City cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth when Dakota Kotowski hit a two-run homer, but Andrew Czech answered for Washington with a two-run shot of his own in the seventh.
It was Czech’s 18th homer of the season and 80th for his career.
Jordan DiValerio (8-3) pitched six innings and allowed four runs, three earned, to pick up the win. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
Dante Maietta (1-2) gave up five runs over five innings and took the loss.
The Wild Things return home Friday and begin a three-game set with Florence with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Prior to the game, Chris Carter will be inducted into the Frontier League Hall of Fame.
Washington plays 15 of its next 18 games at EQT Park.