Wild Things blow late lead, lose season opener
CRESTWOOD, ILL. – Christian Kuzemka hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning that gave the Windy City ThunderBolts a 9-8 come-from-behind win over the Wild Things on Friday night.
It was the season opener for the Wild Things, who led 8-4 in the eighth inning.
Windy City pulled to within 8-7 in the eighth when Michael Sandle hit a three-run homer off reliever Jackson Hicks.
In the bottom of the ninth, Windy City loaded the bases on a single, a passed ball, a wild pitch, a walk and a hit batsman. Reliever Joelvis Del Rosario then walked Kyle Harbison – after getting ahead 0-2 in the count – to force in the tying run.
In the top of the 10th, Washington was unable to advance the tiebreaker runner as Trevin Reynolds (1-0) got two strikeouts and a flyout.
In the bottom of the 10th, Sandale was the tiebreaker runner on second base. He advanced on a groundout before scoring on Kuzemka’s fly ball off Jacob McCaskey (0-1).
Washington had 12 hits, including a home run by Andrew Czech. It was Czech’s 63rd homer in his Wild Things career, which ties him with Hector Roa (2017-22) for the most in franchise history.
Czech and Jeff Liquori each had a pair of RBI.
Washington used six pitchers who combined to walk eight batters.