Wild Things desperately seeking victory
It’s now or never for the Wild Things, and history is on the side of never.
Washington, which resided in first place in the Frontier League’s Central Division for the final 100 days of the regular season, is now on the brink of elimination in the Midwest Conference finals after losing 12-3 to Evansville on Wednesday night in Game 2 of the best-of-5 series.
Evansville leads the series 2-0 with Game 3 scheduled for 7:05 p.m. tonight at EQT Park.
Even with the remainder of the series to be played in Washington it is a huge uphill climb that awaits the Wild Things, who are chasing that elusive first league championship in their 24th season.
Only 15 times in the Frontier League’s history has a best-of-5 series been extended to a decisive Game 5. And just four times has a team overcome a 2-0 series deficit and won the final three games. The last time it happened was in 2010, when River City rallied to beat Southern Illinois in the opening round of the playoffs.
After holding off two Washington comebacks to win 14-13 in a wild Game 1, Evansville took the 2-0 series lead with a 12-3 thumping of the Wild Things in Game 2 Wednesday night at Bosse Field.
The loss continued a troubling trend for Washington. The pitching, which had been a strength of the team during the regular season, has been largely ineffective for several games. The bullpen, in particular, has been troublesome. In Washington’s last four postseason games, its relief pitchers have combined for a 15.10 ERA, giving up 27 hits, 11 walks, 4 hit batsmen and 24 runs in only 14⅓ innings.
The Wild Things are expected to send righthander Zach Kirby (8-1, 2.29 in the regular season) to the mound in Game 3. Evansville, which used eight pitchers in Game 1, could go with Colby Morse (6-0, 2.81), who started Game 2 of the wild-card series against Schaumburg.
In Game 2, Sam Linscott went 4-for-5 with a home run and Evansville used a pair of five-run innings to rout the Wild Things.
The Otters led 2-1 before scoring five times in the fifth inning and adding five more in the sixth for a double-digit lead.
Jon Ponder and Linscott, the Nos. 7 and 8 hitters in the Evansville lineup, combined for eight RBI.
Linscott hit a solo homer leading off the third inning against Washington starter Kobe Foster that tied the score at 1-1. Linscott added an RBI double in the fourth inning that put Evansville ahead for good at 2-1.
Foster gave up seven hits and five runs in four-plus innings. The Frontier League Pitcher of the Year walked five.
Evansville outhit Washington, 17-4.
Winning pitcher Garrett Simpson went six innings, giving up three hits and two runs.
The Wild Things took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Miles Simington led off the game with a double and scored after groundouts by Kyle Edwards and Andrew Czech. Jeff Liquori hit a solo home run off Simpson in the seventh, and Czech had an RBI double in the eighth.