Wild Things have all the right moves in win
The Wild Things put up big numbers in all the right categories Thursday night: 15 hits, six stolen bases and three home runs.
The big numbers, combined with more stellar pitching by Ryan Hennen, gave Washington a 10-5 victory over the Florence Ya’lls.
Bralin Jackson and Andrew Czech hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, every Wild Things batter had at least one hit and Hennen (4-0) pitched six innings, allowing two runs (one earned). He left with a 7-2 lead.
Joe Campagna hit Washington’s third home run, a solo shot off the left-field foul pole in the eighth inning. It was Campagna’s third home run in two nights.
“Everybody is getting pitches to hit and we’re starting to lick,” Campagna said. “From one through nine in the order, noboyd is missing their pitch.
“There was a feeling-out period for everybody at the start of the season. We have a new manager, new players. Now we’re starting to click both on the field and in the clubhouse.”
Just as it did Wednesday night, Florence made it interesting late, cutting a 7-1 deficit to 7-5 in the seventh inning and had the go-ahead run at the plate. Washington, however, got a big out with some help of a pitcher’s backside and tacked on insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings.
Washington won two out of three games in the series, its third series win in the last four. The Wild Things will begin a nine-game road swing tonight in Troy, New York against the Tri-City Valley Cats. They will do so feeling good about their offense, which scored 16 runs in the last two games against the Y’alls.
“Those are two big wins heading into this 11-day trip,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “We have some big series coming up.”
Washington led 2-1 in the bottom of the third when its took command by scoring four more runs off Florence starter Kevin Hahn (1-1). Nick Ward and Andrew Sohn hit consecutive one-out singles and moved up on a double steal. Jackson then hit a long line-drive home run to center field, clearing the wall just to the left of the black batter’s eye to give the Wild Things a 5-1 lead. It was Jackson’s third home run of the season, all coming against Florence.
Czech, a rookie first baseman out of Walsh University, continued his strong June by following Jackson’s home run with one of his own, a towering shot that landed in the parking lot beyond the right-field wall.
Andrew Perry’s double down the right-field line in the fourth inning scored Trevor Casanova, making the score 7-1 and the Wild Things appeared to be cruising.
Florence, the top hitting team in the Frontier League, battled back and by the seventh inning had the potential tying run at bat.
A solo home run by Y’alls shortstop Luis Pintor in the sixth made it 7-2. Spencer Bivens replaced Hennen to begin the seventh and he walked Connor Crane and Will Baker, the latter the Y’alls No. 9 hitter. That set up a two-out, three-run homer by Andre Mercurio that trimmed Washington’s lead to 7-5.
Florence put runners on first and third after Mercurio’s home run, but Trevor Craport’s comebacker hit Washington reliever Jesus Balaguer in the back and deflected to shortstop Nick Ward, who threw to first base for the inning-ending out.
That proved to be Florence’s final gasp as Washington scored two in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Karl Craigie. A one-out walk to Ward was followed by a single from Sohn. Grant Heyman singled through the right side to score Ward and send Sohn to third base. Sohn made it 9-5 when he scored on a groundout by Jackson.
Campagna’s home run capped the scoring.
Campagna made his first professional start in right field as Hector Roa had the night off. Campagna has started at four different positions: catcher, second base, third base and right field.
“That’s Joe’s role,” Vaeth said. “He has to do a lot of different things for us. It’s tough to crack the lineup because we have a lot of good players on the field.”