Aug 21, 2022 4 min read

Before the homestand could get any more frustrating, the Wild Things held a brief players-only meeting Saturday night following a second consecutive loss to the Evansville Otters.

The message was simple: relax. Don’t look at the standings, don’t take anything for granted and start playing the kind of baseball that put this team in first place in the Frontier League’s West Division.

Of course, putting up a crooked number in the bottom of the first inning sure solves a lot of problems.

Washington erupted for five runs – more than they scored in the first two games of the series combined – in the first inning Sunday and went on to a 7-3 victory over Evansville.

The Wild Things went 1-2 in the series and 3-3 in the homestand. The feeling in the clubhouse Sunday was much better than it was about 24 hours earlier.

“It was something where we felt we were pressing a little and needed to get back to having fun and playing relaxed. That’s when we are at our best,” third baseman Ian Walters said about Saturday night meeting.

Walters capped the big first inning against Evansville starter Austin Gossman (7-6) by hitting a two-run homer, Andrew Czech and Tristan Peterson each added home runs and Justin Showalter, a rookie pitcher out of James Madison who has been with the team for only two weeks, provided a quality start for his third win.

“There were a lot of things I tried to instill when I got here,” said Washington’s second-year manager Tom Vaeth. “What we have here is an identity that we don’t tolerate losing. We nip things in the bud and don’t let them fester and go on.”

Washington, which played again without injured shortstop Nick Ward (hand) and outfielder Anthony Brocato (hamstring), had its first four batters reach base in the first inning. Wagner Lagrange hit a two-run triple into the right-field corner and scored when Andrew Czech lined a single up the middle to make it 3-1.

After Jared Mang flied out to the wall in right field, Walters hit his 13th home run, a two-run shot into the parking lot beyond right centerfield, making the score 5-1.

That was enough run support for Showalter (3-0), who went six innings and allowed two runs on three hits.

Evansville scored in the first inning on a two-out RBI double by Zach Biermann, who also hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

It is interesting that even with all the high-experienced pitchers the Wild Things have added recently, it is Showalter, the guy with no previous pro experience, who has won his first three decisions.

“He’s doing the job,” Vaeth said. “His ball moves a lot. He keeps hitters off balance and gets a lot of ground balls.”

Peterson hit his fifth home run, a solo shot, in the fourth inning that gave the Wild Things a 6-1 lead. Czech’s eighth homer, also a solo blast, made it 6-1 in the fifth.

The win trimmed Washington’s magic number for clinching a playoff berth to 3. Its magic number to win the division title is 5. There are 12 games remaining in the regular season.

The Wild Things will begin a series Tuesday at second-place Schaumburg. The Boomers moved ahead of Evansville after sweeping a series at Florence.

“We haven’t accomplished anything,” Vaeth cautioned. “We still have a lot to play for. There is still work to do within our division. The next three series we’ll be playing teams that are scrapping for positions. No one is going to roll over for us.”