Jun 13, 2021 4 min read

Over the course of a 96-game Frontier League schedule, every team will play 30 games it will richly deserve to win, and another 30 that will be a lost cause.

It is what a team does in those remaining 36 games that will make or break a season. And among those 36 games are a few contests that defy logic, in which nothing goes according to script. The Wild Things and Quebec played one such game Sunday evening.

Both teams spent the first seven innings playing as if defense was optional, combining for six errors and a passed ball that led to four unearned runs.

And the script never calls for Andrew Czech, the Wild Things’ rookie power-hitting first baseman to lay down a clutch sacrifice bunt, especially after hitting a home run earlier in the game. Czech, after all, hit 49 home runs in his last three seasons at Walsh University, including 17 this spring before signing with the Wild Things.

But Czech was at the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with Joe Campagna at first base and no outs. And Czech, who said he had bunted in a game only once in his life, put down a perfect sacrifice bunt that preceded rookie Gabe Howell’s single on an 0-2 pitch and Grant Hyeman’s broken-bat sacrifice fly that scored Campagna with the what turned out to be the winning run in the Wild Things’ crazy 7-6 victory.

“I bunted once, in high school, and I got it done,” said Czech, a 6-6, 260-pounder.

He got it done this time, too, though some of the soggy fans in attendance might have wondered if Czech would even recognize the bunt sign if it were flashed to him. Czech said he knows the bunt sign because the Wild Things go over signs every day.

“I don’t leave it to chance,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “Everyone goes over signs every day. We’re not the ’27 Yankees. And we don’t have any ex-major leaguers on this team. Everyone has to be able to do everything.”

The Wild Things did enough to win the three-game series, taking the final two games. Washington won 3-0 Saturday night as starter Ryan Hennen and two relievers combined on a six-hit shutout.

The latest win, which left Vaeth shaking his head in disbelief at times, came at the end of a nine-game homestand. The Wild Things go to Florence for a series starting Tuesday before returning home Friday to face Lake Erie.

Washington and Quebec appeared on the way to victory in the series finale. Quebec took advantage of three Washington errors to forge a 4-0 lead in the third inning. Washington starter McKenzie Mills gave up four runs in 51/3 innings but only one of the runs was earned.

Washington battled back and tied it in a four-run bottom of the fourth. The Wild Things had only two hits in the inning, but one was Czech’s game-tying two-run homer to center field.

“It was an impressive day for the kid – a bomb and a bunt,” Vaeth said.

The Wild Things took a 6-4 lead in the sixth, taking advantage of a dropped fly ball after a leadoff double by Trevor Casanova. Heyman hit the first of his two sacrifice flies to score Campagna, who reached on the Quebec error.

Quebec made it 6-6 by scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, the latter coming on a sac fly by Nick Horvath off Jesus Balaguer (1-0).

Campgana, who scored three runs, then led off the bottom of the eighth by being hit by a pitch from David Gauthier (1-2). Quebec then shifted third baseman Elliott Curtis to the right side of the infield and shortstop Gift Nggoepe charged home plate, forcing Czech to bunt to the first-base side.

“He put it in the right spot, down the first-base line” Vaeth said. “We talked about the situation and I said I know you haven’t bunted very often. Andrew’s response was, ‘I have to get the job done.’

“Those are the kind of guys we want. I said earlier in the week that if we’re going to win or lose we’re going to play guys who will battle to the end with me.”

Zach Strecker pitched the ninth inning for his third save and second in as many nights.

“I don’t think we won any of those up-for-grab games to this point,” Vaeth said. “That was one, back and forth. It’s good to get one of those and win the series. Hopefully, we can get some momentum going on the road.”