Wild Things blank Boomers, move closer to playoff berth
SCHAUMBURG, ILL. – Michael Austin and Trevor Bradley combined on an eight-hit shutout, Carter McEachern and Reydel Medina each homered and the Wild Things moved closer to a Frontier League playoff berth with a 9-0 victory over the Schaumburg Boomers Tuesday night.
Washington increased its lead in the East Division to one game over second-place Joliet and cut the Wild Things’ magic number to clinch a playoff berth to two. Joliet was idle Tuesday and plays a doubleheader today at Traverse City.
The victory came in the opening game of the series against Schaumburg, which started Washington’s six-game road trip to conclude the regular season.
Austin (3-3) started and threw five shutout innings. Bradley followed and earned his first save by throwing four scoreless innings and striking out four.
The Wild Things scored all the runs they would need in the second inning against Schaumburg starter Gunner Kines (6-3). Ryan Cox, Ramsey Romano, James Harris and Roman Collins hit four consecutive two-out, run-scoring singles.
In the sixth, McEachern belted a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, to make it 6-0.
After a two-out single by Harris and a walk to Collins, Medina smacked a three-run homer in the ninth to make it 9-0. It was Medina’s sixth home run of the year.