One is enough for Wild Things victory
Washington Wild Things’ Ryan Cox makes the throw to first for the out against the River City Rascals at the Wild Things Park Friday, August 3, 2018.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
The Wild Things’ Carter McEachern makes a play against River City Friday.
wildthings
Washington Wild Things’ James Harris in the box against the River City Rascals at the Wild Things Park Friday, August 3, 2018.
You’ve heard of a walk-off victory. How about a sprint-off win?
Washington’s Roman Collins raced home from second base on Mike Hill’s one-out single to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning to score the game’s only run Friday night as the Wild Things edged the River City Rascals, 1-0.
Collins slid across the corner of home plate just ahead of a relay throw from River City right fielder Gage West to first baseman Clint Freeman then on to catcher Mike Jurgella, whose tag was a split second too late.
“I didn’t get a good jump off second base because I had to freeze and see if Mike’s line drive was going to be caught,” Collins explained. “When I saw it went through the infield, I was going to run until Banger (manager Gregg Langbehn) held me up. Fortunately, he never did.”
Collins’ dash home not only ended the game and gave Washington a victory in the opening game of the weekend series but it also ended a lengthy scoreless drought for the Wild Things. Washington mustered only one run in a loss Thursday to Normal and that tally came in the first inning. That meant the Wild Things were working on a 16 consecutive scoreless innings streak when Hill delivered his game-winning, line-drive hit.
“That’s just the way it is sometimes with baseball and hitting,” Collins said. “But good teams find ways to win games like that one.”
Washington began the night two games behind first-place Joliet in the Frontier League’s East Division while River City led the tightly packed West Division by one game.
It was a marvelous pitchers’ duel until the final play. Washington starter Thomas Dorminy and his River City counterpart Justin Garcia each threw seven shutout innings and three relievers (two by Washington) combined to keep the game scoreless until the bottom of the ninth.
Collins began the inning by drawing a walk off River City reliever Tanner Wilt (2-1), a rookie out of La Roche College in Allegheny County. Reydel Medina then stepped to the plate in a bunting situation but instead swung away. He rolled a grounder to second base that worked just as well as a sacrifice bunt as Collins advanced to second on the groundout.
Hector Roa was then intentionally walked to set up a potential double play, but Hill laced his game-winner to right field.
“Their right fielder plays deep and he had to move to his left to field the ball, so I waited as long as possible before sending Collins,” said Langbehn, who doubles as the Wild Things’ third-base coach. “Roman is our fastest runner so I felt comfortable sending him. He outran the throw the last 20 feet.”
For much of the night, it appeared one run would be enough to win as Dorminy and Garcia matched shutout innings. Dorminy gave up only two hits. He did walk four but struck out six. Garcia, meanwhile, allowed only three hits and seemed to get stronger as the game progressed. Washington had only two baserunners reach scoring position until the ninth inning.
“That was a well-played and well-pitched game on both sides,” Langbehn said. “That’s the way we have to pitch to make the playoffs.”
David Adkins relieved Dorminy to start the seventh and retired two of the three batters he faced. Lefty Jake Eaton (1-0), who was activated off the disabled list earlier in the day after being sidelined all season because of an elbow injury, replaced Adkins and got the final out of the eighth and retired all three batters he faced in the ninth.
Eaton was a key pitcher during Washington’s push to the playoffs last season when he was 1-0 with a 2.21 ERA in 12 outings out of the bullpen late in the year. Langbehn was encouraged by what he saw from Eaton.
“Might as well throw him right into the fire, right? That’s going to be his role, so he might as well get used to it,” Langbehn said. “He’s clearly not 100 percent but he threw strikes and got out their lefties. He could be a big part for us down the stretch.”
Extra bases
To make room for Eaton on the active roster, Washington released relief pitcher Jared Crescentini (0-0, 2.25). … The Rascals were a travel weary bunch. River City played a home game Thursday night in O’Fallon, Mo., and bused 10 hours through the night and early morning, arriving in Washington at about 10 a.m. … River City relief pitcher Jackson Sigman, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning, played his college baseball at West Virginia.