Stegura stellar as Wild Things blank Evansville
Before it could get any worse, before it could reach a panic situation, the Wild Things gave the baseball to Drew Stegura and told the young starting pitcher to end the slide.
The rookie out of Belmont Abbey, a Division II school in North Carolina, took his marching orders and executed them to perfection.
Pitching with the poise and confidence of a player much older than 22, Stegura tossed seven stellar shutout innings, and Andrew Czech had a record-breaking night at the plate, as the Wild Things defeated Evansville 4-0 Thursday night at EQT Park.
Washington snapped a season-high four-game winning streak and increased their lead in the Frontier League’s Central Division to four games over Evansville. The Wild Things’ magic number for clinching a playoff berth was reduced to 5.
Stegura (3-0) had much to do with the turnaround in what had to be considered the Wild Things’ most important game of the season. The righthander scattered five hits, walked only one batter and struck out a career-high nine.
“I treated this game the same as any other game,” Stegura said. “You can’t treat one game any different than the others.”
It was a performance that came on the heels of his start last Wednesday when he took a no-hitter deep into a game against Mississippi.
“He gained a lot of confidence from taking a no-hitter in the seventh inning,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “You can label this game any way you want, but that kid is not afraid of that kind of situation. He’s been that guy for his school for the last two years. He’s pitched in big games. He has a lot of confidence in himself.”
Stegura worked out of minor jams in each of the first two innings as Evansville left four runners on base, but he retired 11 Otters in a row at one stretch and 16 of the last 18 hitters he faced.
Evansville had only one runners reach third base in the game and nobody advanced into scoring position after the second inning.
“In my first three starts I learned that a lot of the things that worked for me in college aren’t going to work here,” Stegura admitted. “I learned how I have to attack the hitters and put the ball where they don’t want it. Tonight, my fastball was really good.”
For the first time since last Saturday, Washington was able to take a lead. The Wild Things scored first when Miles Simington led off the bottom of the first with a single against Evansville starter Landon Willeman (3-6), stole second base, moved to third on a bunt by Billy Sullivan and scored on a groundout by Czech.
Washington scored three times in the third inning, two coming on a 418-foot home run over the video board in right field by Czech. It was his 25 homer of the season. Czech finished with three RBI in the game, giving him 96 on the season and breaking the franchise single-season record that was set by Jacob Dempsey in 2009.
“No offense intended to anybody who played here before in the 24 seasons, but if Andrew Czech isn’t Mr. Wild Thing …, Vaeth said.
Washington’s second run of the game was the result of Kyle Edwards drawing a walk, stealing second base, advancing on a bunt by Simington and scoring on an infield single by Sullivan.
Welleman pitched well after the three-run third. He went seven innings, allowing six hits and two walks. He struck out seven.
Mack Anglin pitched the eighth inning for Washington and Landon Ginn retired all three batters he faced in the ninth, two on strikeouts, to finish the game. It was Washington’s third shutout of the season over Evansville.