Wild Things’ comebacks fall short in wild 14-13 loss in Game 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Logan Brown homered and drove in four runs and Evansville held off two big comebacks by Washington to beat the Wild Things 14-13 in a wild Game 1 of the best-of-5 Midwest Conference finals Tuesday night at Bosse Field.
Game 2 is Wednesday night (7:35) in Evansville.
Evansville took advantage of bad defense by Washington to build an early seven-run lead, then held on as Washington scored six times in the seventh inning and five times in the top of the ninth.
The game, which lasted more than four hours, wasn’t decided until the Wild Things’ Antonio Monroy, who drove in four runs, struck out with runners on second and third, ending the game.
Joan Gonzalez, the eighth Evansville pitcher of the game, got the final out and recorded a save.
Washington trailed 9-2 entering the seventh inning but scored six times to make it a one-run game. The inning included a three-run double by Monroy. The Wild Things almost took the lead in the seventh as Anthony Brocato hit a fly ball that Evansville left fielder LG Castillo caught as he backed into the outfield wall, ending the frame.
Evansville, however, scored five runs against the Wild Things’ bullpen in the eighth inning and went to the ninth with a 14-8 lead.
Again the Wild Things battled back. Brocato drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs, and Jeff Liquori and Caleb Ketchup each hit two-run singles to make it a one-run game again.
Washington dug itself too large of a hole because of two errors on defense and a lack of clutch hitting on offense. A pair of two-out errors, including a dropped fly ball, over the first three innings led to four unearned runs for the Otters. Washington starter Ben Kowalski gave up five hits and five runs (one earned) in three innings. He walked two and struck out three.
The Washington offense failed to cash in on several scoring opportunities. The Wild Things loaded the bases with one out in the second inning and scored only one run. In the third, they had runners on first and third with one out and did not score. They loaded the bases again in the fourth with no outs and failed to score after two strikeouts and a fielder’s choice.
The Wild Things left 13 runners on base in the game, which took 4 hours and 12 minutes to play.