May 17, 2015 5 min read

Before it could get any worse, before anybody could reach for the panic button and before the Wild Things could begin to doubt themselves, Kyle Helisek and John Fidanza made instant impacts and gave Washington some momentum coming out of its season-opening series.

Helisek combined with relief pitcher Steve Messner on a three-hit shutout, and Fidanza drove in the game’s only runs with a hit in his first professional at-bat as the Wild Things defeated the two-time defending Frontier League champion Schaumburg Boomers, 2-0, to salvage the second game of a doubleheader Sunday at Consol Energy Park.

The Wild Things, who lost the season opener Friday night, 1-0, were unable to protect a four-run lead in the seventh inning of the doubleheader’s first game as Schaumburg rallied for a 7-6 win in eight innings.

Helisek, a former standout at Seneca Valley High School, where he played on a PIAA championship team, pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings in his Wild Things debut. He struck out five and did not allow a runner to reach third base. Fidanza, a rookie catcher who was Washington’s second-round pick at the Frontier League draft last month, hit a two-run single in the second inning. Fidanza also made the game’s key defensive play.

“I would have liked to have won more than one game, but I’m very happy with the way our starting pitching has performed,” Washington manager Bob Bozzuto said.

Helisek, a lefty, went from Seneca Valley to Villanova University then pitched for three seasons in the St. Louis Cardinals’ system before being released in March and signing with the Wild Things. He showed why he won 18 games in affiliated ball, keeping the ball down in the strike zone, getting seven outs on ground balls, including two double plays, and picking a runner off first base.

“Kyle can be dominant,” Bozzuto said.

Washington, which needed some momentum early in the second game after squandering a late lead in the opener, got it in the second inning when Fidanza’s two-out single through the left side of the infield drove in Edinson Rincon and Sam Mende.

“I was hoping to get a left-handed at-bat to start with because I’ve had more swings from that side,” said the switch-hitting Fidanza. “But I got one from the right side and was fortunate to get a fastball over the plate to hit.”

The 2-0 lead held up. Schaumburg mounted a threat when it started the sixth with an infield single by John Schulze and a walk by Jordan Dean. The Boomers tried to advance the runners with a bunt, but on the second pitch of the at-bat by Justin Vasquez, Fidanza threw behind Schulze at second base and picked him off.

“That was all John and our shortstop (Austin Wobrock),” Helisek explained. “There was no play on. He got us out of a potential big inning.”

The well-traveled Fidanza was a rarity in college baseball. He played at four schools in four years and at four different levels. He started at Division I Coastal Carolina and finished last year at Georgia Gwinnett, an NAIA power. In between, Fidanza played at a junior college and a Division II school.

“As a backup catcher, we wanted somebody who is outstanding defensively, but we thought John also could hit,” Bozzuto said. “He had to get in a leadership role behind the plate and get the pitchers to trust him. He did that and beat out some pretty good catchers, including one who had three years in the White Sox system.”

Messner got the final four outs for a save. The last two outs came with a hard rain falling.

Washington had a good start in the opener from pitcher Ryan Bores, who took a 5-1 lead into the seventh before everything unraveled. Schaumburg got six hits in the key inning and Ryan Tuntland, a former West Virginia University player, tied the score with a run-scoring single.

The Boomers scored twice in the eighth, with one run coming on a two-base throwing error by relief pitcher Pat Butler (0-1). The Wild Things scored one time in the bottom of the eighth when Matt Ford, who had a triple in each game, hit a sacrifice fly that pushed across Edinson Rincon. It was Rincon who delivered a three-run double in the fifth that gave Washington the 5-1 lead.

Though his bullpen gave up five runs in two innings, Bozzuto put the blame for the loss in the opener squarely on him.

“I told the guys that I need to provide leadership and I didn’t provide it in the first game. I didn’t manage the way I usually do. I lost that game. There were a couple of moves I should have made earlier,” he said. “The bottom line is, I have to put our pitchers in the best situations I can. I didn’t do that and it won’t happen again.”

Notes

Schaumburg outfielder Alexi Colon reached base in all seven of his plate appearances in the doubleheader. … Washington begins a three-game series at home Tuesday against Evansville.