Wild Things’ Jackson is MVP at Frontier League All-Star Game
JOLIET, Ill. – The Wild Things set a franchise-record by sending eight players to the Frontier League’s All-Star Game and they led the East Division to a 4-1 victory over the West Wednesday night.
Washington players had a hand in all four East runs, Wild Things pitchers combined for three shutout innings and left fielder Bralin Jackson was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Jackson went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs with a double in the sixth inning that increased the East’s lead to 4-1. He was the only player in the game with multiple RBI. Jackson is the first Wild Things player to be named MVP of the all-star game since Mike Arbinger in 2005.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when Washington first baseman Kane Sweeney hit a double and scored on a double by Traverse City shortstop Will Kengor. Washington center fielder Rashad Brown made it 2-0 when his single drove home Kengor. Brown was 2-for-4, including an infield single in the third inning.
The West made it 2-1 in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Andrew Mercurio of Florence. An inning later, Jackson pushed the East’s lead to 4-1 with his double to the outfield wall that scored Lake Erie’s Tanner Lubach and Schaumburg’s Sean Godfrey.
Washington had five of the nine starters for the East. Trevor Foss was the starting pitcher and was joined in the lineup by teammates Kyle Pollock (catcher), Sweeney, Jackson and Brown. Pollock was 0-for-1 with a walk. Sweeney finished 1-for-2 with a double and a run. Thirds baseman Mike Hill played as a reserve and was 0-for-1 but was hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance.
Foss issued a walk but struck out the last two batters he faced in the scoreless first inning. He was followed on the mound by teammate Chase Cunningham, who gave up two singles in the second inning but got out of the jam with the help of a double play grounder. Washington closer Zach Strecker also gave up two hits but escaped the eighth inning unscathed. Strecker struck out Evansville’s Jeff Gardner, who won the Home Run Derby Tuesday night.