Wild THings
By Joe Smeltzer
For the Observer-Reporter
The 2019 Washington Wild Things season, thus far, has been a far cry from a year ago.
In 2018, Washington was one win away from its first Frontier League Championship win.
This year, the Wild Things are six games under .500 and in fourth place in the Eastern Division which they won less than a year ago.
Despite the slow start, the Wild Things (19-25) are still in the thick of things, and after Saturday’s five-inning 3-0 win over the Joliet Slammers- which was called roughly an hour after the rains came in the middle of the sixth inning- Washington sits just three games back of the first place Schaumberg Boomers.
“We were not too long ago in a pretty poor position,” manager Gregg Langbehn “We’ve gone through a number of changes with our roster, which I think creates a little uneasiness for players. We certainly didn’t like to do that, but it can be a necessary evil. That’s the nature of this business.”
After 31 games, Washington was 9-22. Since then, they have won 10 of their past 13.
The star of the night for Washington was starting pitcher AJ Bogucki. Bogucki (2-1) threw 5.1 shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked three and struck out eight. The eight strikeouts were a career high for Bogucki at the professional level, which includes parts of four seasons in the Washington Nationals organization.
After Bogucki retired the side in order- with two strikeouts- in the top of the first, it took Washington just three batters to strike in the bottom half. With one out and Cameron Baranek on first, Shaine Hughes singled. When Hughes attempted to advance to second on a throw to third, an errant toss by third baseman Riley Krane allowed Baranek to score the game’s first run.
The Wild Things doubled their lead in the bottom half of the fourth. With two outs and Cody Erickson at the plate, a wild pitch by Joliet (19-25) starter Keegan Long scored Frontier League All-Star selection Hector Roa to make it 2-0.
Washington added on in its next at bat. With one out and Ryan Cox on third, leadoff hitter Blake Adams hit a ground ball to Krane at the hot corner.He threw home to try to get Cox, but the throw was off line, and it went down as an RBI fielder’s choice for Adams.
After Bogucki and reliever BJ Sabol retired the Slammers in the top of the sixth, mother nature brought the game to a halt.
It was in the sixth where Joliet had it’s best chance to do damage offensively. With runners on second and third, Langbehn called on left-hander BJ Sabol to face Slammers’ lefty’s Riley Krane and Dash Winningham. Sabol struck out both to put out the fire in what turned out to be the last half inning of the game.
“Langbehn’s a great manager,” Joliet skipper Jeff Isom said. “He brought in a lefty against our tough lefty’s, and that was our chance. We knew the rain was coming at some point. He played it perfectly, and we just couldn’t get anything done. Unfortunately, that’s the way the ball rolls.”
While Isom was disappointed in the decision to call the game with his team trailing, he understood that the call was in the hands of the night’s umpiring crew.
“In the end, once the lineup cards are exchanged, it’s in the umpires hands. They made the decision to end it,” Isom said. … “They called it when there was no rain, which was disappointing from our standpoint, but obviously from Washington’s standpoint, they were like ‘ok, hey, this game’s a win for us.’ So that was frustrating on my part, but the umpires made the final decision on that.”
For Joliet, Long (2-5) took the loss despite only one of his three runs being earned. He went five innings for an abbreviated complete game, and allowed three hits, walked a batter, hit another and struck out five.
Washington will look for series win tomorrow evening. Michael Austin (3-4, 6.40 ERA) is the starter for the Wild Things, and he’ll oppose Joliet’s Daren Osby (0-3, 2.67 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:35.
Washington’s next 16 games are against teams in the East Division, so the WIld Things have plenty of opportunities to gain ground. For Langbehn, it’s up to the team to take advantage of those chances.
“We still have one more tomorrow, (then) we have Lake Erie for three and Schaumburg for three, then (after the All-Star break) we have Schaumburg again,” he said. “So, the schedule shows opportunity for you, but obviously you have to produce and take care of business.