Jul 9, 2023 4 min read

The first five innings of the Wild Things’ game Saturday night against the Sussex County Miners were played without a scoreboard, videoboard, public address system and all the sound effects that come between pitches and at-bats. That was the result of a blown transformer that knocked out the power to the suites and pressbox at Wild Things Park.

Washington starting pitcher Kobe Foster breezed through those five quiet innings, allowing only one hit as the Wild Things held a 3-0 lead.

By the time the sixth inning started, power was restored and all the music, sounds and video information was back. That’s about the time somebody plugged in and flipped the switch on the Miners’ hitters.

Sussex County scored five runs in the sixth inning and then held off a late Wild Things comeback for a 6-4 victory that evened the series.

The Miners had six hits – four for extra bases — during a seven-batter stretch of the sixth inning. The uprising started with a leadoff home run by Jawuan Harris, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup.

Washington manager Tom Vaeth said the pivotal inning was the result of Foster not getting ahead in the count.

“That was the first time all game that Kobe was not ahead in the count,” Vaeth said. “He fell behind all those hitters and that they put good swings on the ball. They had one hit after five innings, and by the end of the seventh they had 10.”

The Miners finished with 12 hits.

In the sixth, two batters after Harris’ home run made it 3-1, Juan Santana singled and moved to third base on Oraj Anu’s double. Gavin Stupenski then hit a one-out RBI single and Will Zimmerman followed with a two-run triple to right centerfield that put Sussex County ahead 4-3. Willie Escala’s double off reliever Christian James scored Zimmerman and made it 5-3.

“We haven’t been swinging the bats well lately,” admitted Sussex County manager Chris Widger, a former major league catcher. “In that inning, I think instead of worrying about bad swings we got a little more aggressive.”

Sussex County tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Harris, who was 2-for-3 and on base three times, singled, stole second base without drawing a throw and scored on a single by Santana that gave the Miners a 6-3 advantage.

Washington mounted late charge against the Sussex County bullpen, which is loaded with quality arms. Sussex County has seven relievers with ERAs lower than 1.75, which makes the Miners a tough team to play catchup against.

“Part of that has been luck,” Widger said. “We had some rookiex come in who threw really well. During spring training we had only three days that we could get outside because the weather was so bad. We didn’t bring in a lot of pitchers to camp but the guys we did throw well and they believe in each other. We trust them all.”

Washington scratched out a run in the eighth on three walks and a single by Melvin Novoa. Andrew Czech scored the run on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Caufield that was caught by right fielder Edwin Mateo at the wall.

In the bottom of the ninth, Washington’s Scotty Dubrule had a one-out single and Wagner Lagrange followed with a walk. Both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch but they were stranded after Miners closer Robbie Hitt struck out Czech and induced a game-ending groundout by Novoa.

“We fought all night,” Vaeth said. “We had the tying run in scoring position in the ninth and Tommy’s ball, two feet farther and it’s tied. We have to come out (Sunday) and win the series.”

Tyler Thornton (2-0) pitched the first five innings for Sussex County. Hitt earned his eighth save.

Washington built the 3-0 lead on an RBI double by Czech in the first inning, a run-scoring infield single by Dubrule in the second and another RBI hit by Czech in the fifth.

Extra bases

Because of the power outage, national anthem singer Delaney Steadman of Belmont, Ohio, was unable to use a microphone, which made it tough to hear her in some parts of the ballpark. So about half of the crowd of 2,023 helped her and joined in the singing of the anthem. She received a rousing ovation when finished. … Novoa was robbed of a what would have been an RBI double down the line in the first inning when Santana made a diving stop of a hard-hit grounder and threw across the diamond to retire Novoa and end the inning.