Aug 28, 2016 4 min read

Storm clouds formed a gray dome over Consol Energy Park. Thunder pierced the air. Lightning lanced the horizon. Rain started to fall and picked up intensity as play slipped into the bottom of the seventh inning with Joliet holding a 4-2 lead over Washington in a key Frontier League game Sunday night.

Negative thoughts hammered at the brain of each Wild Things player.

What if play isn’t resumed? What if they don’t have a chance to attempt a comeback? What if they drop another game behind Joliet in the East Division standings and River City in the battle for the final wild-card playoff spot?

The Wild Things had plenty of time to ponder their lot in life as a late-inning rain delay caused all kinds of havoc.

The worst-case scenario for the Wild Things eventually played out as the game was called at 9:12 p.m., following a rain delay of 2 hours and 12 minutes. It had stopped raining for 15 minutes before the decision to rule the game complete had been announced.

When it was finally made official, many Joliet players, who were standing outside their clubhouse down the left-field line, began celebrating their 4-2 victory by jumping up and down and giving each other high-fives.

Meanwhile, in the Wild Things’ dugout, there was some slamming of equipment, a few yells of anger to nobody in particular and much bewilderment.

The players couldn’t believe the game was rained out when it was no longer raining.

The loss dropped Washington (44-45) to 4½ games behind first-place Joliet with six remaining in the regular season. Any combination of Joliet wins or Washington losses totaling two will eliminate the Wild Things from division-title contention. The Wild Things fell 3½ games behind River City for the final wild card. The Rascals increased their winning streak to 11 with a 2-1 victory over Normal.

To his credit, Washington manager Gregg Langbehn didn’t want to delve into the decision to declare the game over. Perhaps that’s the official in him. He’s been a longtime basketball and football official on the high school and collegiate level and knows such decisions are sometimes difficult and not always popular with everyone involved.

“I don’t want to get into that,” he said. “We didn’t do enough to win and the decision was made to cancel it. What can you do?

“Both teams wanted to continue playing. I give (Joliet manager) Jeff Isom a lot of credit and respect. He was willing to stick around and continue playing, and the game meant more to us than to his team.”

Joliet forged a 3-0 lead by the third inning and held off Washington despite two solo home runs by the Wild Things.

What really hurt Washington was its situational hitting – again. The Wild Things got a leadoff double in the first inning by Andrew Heck and did not score.

In a series opening loss Friday to the Slammers, Washington had three leadoff extra-base hits but did not score each time and went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position in that game. On Sunday, Washington was hitless in four at-bats with runners in scoring position.

“Joliet executed a little better than we did,” Langbehn said, “especially in the first game of the series, which set the tone for the next game. If you want to be a playoff team, then you have to find ways to score, other than solo home runs.”

Joliet forged a 1-0 lead by scoring in the third inning on Charlie White’s RBI groundout. The Slammers made it 3-0 in the fourth when former Wild Things infielder Carter Bell hit a two-run homer off Washington starter Luke Wilkins (3-7).

Washington scored its two runs on solo home runs to left field. Third baseman Grant Fink hit his ninth homer of the season in the fifth inning and designated hitter Ricky Rodriguez belted his ninth in the sixth. The latter homer trimmed Joliet’s lead to 4-2 and Slammers starting pitcher Shawn Townsley (7-7) exited three batters later. Reliever Brett Choban inherited two baserunners but got John Fidanaza on an inning-ending popout.

Three outs later, with Washington’s Ryne Willard batting to begin the bottom of the seventh, the rain started and played was stopped.

Washington was held to four hits.

Washington catcher Kyle Pollock, who was hit in the back of the neck by a pitch Saturday night, had a stiff neck and was unavailable. … The Wild Things begin a season-ending six-game road trip Tuesday at Windy City. … Attendance was 1,699. The Wild Things averaged 1,957 fans per home game, an increase of 151 per game over last year.