Wild Things wrap up West, defeat Evansville
Rayni Shiring/Washington Wild Things
The Wild Things celebrate their Frontier League West Division title after defeating the Evansville Otters 10-5 Tuesday night. It's Washington's eighth division championship in 20 seasons.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
A jubilant Wagner Lagrange returns to the dugout having scored the Wild Things’ fifth run, driven in by first baseman Andrew Czech in the Tuesday’s game against Evansville at Wild Things Park.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Wagner Lagrange gets the go-ahead and heads for home, scoring the Wild Things' second run in the first inning on a double by Andrew Czech in the game against Evansville at Wild Things Park Tuesday.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Left fielder Wagner Lagrange celebrates having scored the Wild Things' second run in the first inning of the game against Evansville at Wild Things Park Tuesday.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Wild Things starting pitcher Kobe Foster has an 8-1 record and 1.00 ERA over 10 starts last season. He was named the Frontier League’s Rookie of the Year.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Right fielder Anthony Brocato stands up with a first inning double in the game against Evansville at Wild Things Park Tuesday.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Right fielder Anthony Brocato connects for a double to ignite the offense in the Wild Things’ first inning against Evansville Tuesday.
The Wild Things needed this.
Kobe Foster pitched seven strong innings, Andrew Czech sparked a fast start by the offense with a pair of doubles and three RBI, Tristan Peterson smacked Washington’s first grand slam at home this season and the Wild Things rolled to 10-5 victory over the Evansville Otters on Tuesday night.
The win clinched the West Division championship for Washington and stopped a season-high five-game losing streak. It is the Wild Things’ eighth division title in 20 seasons in the Frontier League.
And, maybe more importantly, it put a swagger back in the players’ step.
“It’s definitely back,” said Czech, the Wild Things’ first baseman. “It wasn’t lost but we were feeling the pressure to clinch.”
After suffering through a 1-5 road trip that was marked by close losses and a lack of timely hitting, Washington broke open this game early, scoring in each of the first three innings for a 6-1 lead.
Washington led 10-1 after six innings and it was only a matter of time before the players had a wild champagne and beer-splattered postgame celebration along the first-base line.
“This almost makes what we went through last week worthwhile,” said Washington manager Tom Vaeth, his uniform soaked in beer from the postgame bash. “It’s fun to do that at home.
“The satisfaction comes from seeing those guys happy and achieving one of the goals we set before the season. The first goal was to make the playoffs and the second was to win the division. We still have one more to go.”
Those six early runs were more than enough offensive support for Foster (8-1), who gave up only four hits and one run over seven innings. The rookie lefthander walked one and struck out five. To illustrate just how well Foster has pitched this season, his ERA actually went up, to 1.00.
Washington’s hitters figured out something after being shut out for six innings by Evansville’s Zach Smith (2-2) less than two weeks ago. This time, the Wild Things produced two runs in the first inning on a double by Anthony Brocato, a single by Wagner Lagrange and a hard-hit double to left centerfield by Czech.
Evansville scored its lone run off Foster in the second. Dakota Phillips, who recently returned after missing more than a month with a broken hand, doubled off the left-field wall near the foul pole and scored when Miles Gordon tripled into the right-field corner.
The Wild Things scored a run in the second inning without the benefit of a hit — a walk to Ian Walters, a wild pitch, a groundout and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Wilber — then sent nine players to plate in a three-run third.
In the third, Czech hit a two-run double, again to left centerfield, and scored when Hector Roa singled, making the score 6-1.
“It’s always good to get out to a lead early,” Vaeth said. “The boys feel confident with Kobe on the mound. When we took that 6-1 lead, I think everybody was able to exhale.”
Peterson put the game out of reach in the sixth with his grand slam to left field on the final pitch thrown by Smith.
Evansville scored four runs in the eighth inning against reliever Kenny Pierson. The loss, combined with Schaumburg’s 6-5 win over Lake Erie, dropped Evansville to third place in the West, a half-game behind Schaumburg.
“We worked so hard all year,” Czech said. “This is a great group of guys. This is good to get out of the way but we still have one more goal. We want our rings.”
Playoff schedule
Washington will play in a best-of-3 West Division playoff series against the winner of the wild-card game between the second- and third-place finishers that will be played Tuesday. The Wild Things will play Game 1 on the road Friday, Sept. 9, then host Game 2 on Sunday, Sept. 11. Game 3, if necessary, will be played at Wild Things Park on Monday, Sept. 12. The Sept. 12 game will be an afternoon contest. This is a different schedule that what was originally on the league website. The date changes were caused by two concerts that are scheduled for Sept. 9 and 10 at Wild Things Park.
Game 1 of the championship series will be played Tuesday, Sept. 13.
Extra bases
The power supply for the scoreboard beyond left centerfield was knocked out by a lightning strike during Monday afternoon’s storm and was not working during the game. … It was the first time since 2007 that Washington celebrated winning a division title on its home field.