Jun 8, 2018 4 min read

One night after a franchise-record tying 23-run outburst that included grand slams in consecutive innings by James Harris and Lou Mele, Wild Things third baseman Mike Hill stepped into the batter’s box Friday night with the bases loaded.

By the time Hill returned to the home team’s dugout, some of his teammates were there to give him a message: You have warning-track power.

Hill might not have added to Washington’s recent run of grand slams, but his eighth-inning at-bat was impressive nonetheless. He drove a pitch from Joliet relief pitcher Nate Antone deep to right-centerfield for a bases-clearing three-run double that gave the Wild Things a 6-4 lead.

It was the key hit in the Wild Things’ 8-4 come-from-behind victory that extended their winning streak to five games and has moved them into first place in the Frontier League’s East Division.

And the Wild Things’ hitting has been at the forefront of the recent surge. Washington leads the league in runs and raised its team batting average 10 points with the rout Thursday of Traverse City. It had 11 more hits in the series opener against Joliet and none was bigger than Hill’s double that erased a late deficit.

“You can see the confidence they’re playing with,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said.

That confidence was there even after Joliet forged a 4-3 lead when Justin Garcia, a former Wild Things player, hit a three-run homer on a 3-0 pitch off Washington reliever Davis Adkins (3-1) in the top of the eighth.

“The dugout was a little deflated after that home run, but when the guys got back in at the end of the half-inning, you could see they knew it was time to get back to work,” Langbehn said.

Just as Washington did in the top of the eighth, Joliet reliever Corey Kimber walked two batters to start the bottom half. Reydel Medina then lined a single to right field that loaded the bases with no outs and brought up Hill, who hit an Antone pitch deep toward the angle in right centerfield.

“I thought it might get out, but the ball doesn’t travel well in our park,” Hill explained.

Hill would score on a bases-loaded single by Harris, and Carter McEachern’s sacrifice fly brought home Justin Bohn with the fifth run of the inning.

It was the fourth time in a 12-inning stretch that Washington scored at least five runs in an inning.

“If you look at our players’ histories, what level they have played at and what they have hit, you can see that we’re going to hit,” Hill said.

Both starting pitchers, Chase Cunningham for Washington and Joliet’s Scot Hoffman, were fantastic but didn’t figure into the decision. Cunningham allowed only two hits and one run over seven innings. He struck out nine and exited after throwing 111 pitches. The lone run allowed by Cunningham was a solo homer in the fourth inning by Travis Bolin, who went the opposite way and curled a shot just inside the right-field foul pole.

“Chase was phenomenal,” Hill said. “He threw a lot of strikes and worked ahead in the count. What makes the difference is getting ahead.”

Hoffman, who beat the Wild Things in Joliet in May, gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings. McEachern doubled in the third and scored on a single by Medina to make it 1-1. Roman Collins hit his fourth homer of the season to give Washington a 2-1 lead in the sixth, and Brett Marr’s single drove in Hill in the seventh.

The usually reliable Washington bullpen struggled in the eighth. Sam Mersing issued two walks before Garcia’s three-run shot off Adkins.

“You can’t walk guys in that part of the game,” Langbehn said. “They did the same thing to us in the bottom of the inning. You can’t let ’em roll over the lineup.”

Extra bases

There are still tickets available for tonight’s 7:05 game. It is a Salute to Service Night and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva will be signing autographs. The first 1,000 fans will receive Villanueva bobbleheads. … Washington entered the night leading the league in runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, doubles, triples and home runs.