Game Recap 5/15/16; Wild Things Take the Series
In front of the 20th largest crowd in GCS Ballpark history, the Washington Wild Things beat the Gateway Grizzlies in game three of their three game series by the score of 8-6. The bats came alive for the Wild Things as they struck for three home runs in the contest The game got a little shaky towards the end as the Grizzlies had a late rally, but the Wild Things held on for the victory.
Chase Cunningham started the game for the Wild Thins and went 5.0 innings four runs on six hits while striking out one. Cunningham blew through the first inning of the game retiring the Grizzlies in order. He was aided by a nice diving catch by Wild Things left fielder Andrew Heck, and followed that up with a ground out and a fly out to end the bottom of the first.
The Grizzlies got their first run of the contest in the top of the second inning. Vin Guglietti started the inning off with a double. He would score two batters later as Ben Waldrip hit a sacrifice fly to put the Grizzlies in front by a score of 1-0. The Grizzlies would get another runner in scoring position but he was stranded there to end the inning.
In the fourth, the Wild Things put together a big inning that turned the tables for the offense. Bryan Haar started the inning off with the first of his two home runs on the day to tie the game at 0ne. Then with two outs, Heck walked and Grant Fink drove him in lining an RBI double into the left-center field gap to score Heck and make the score 2-1.
Then after a walk to Eddie Sorondo, the Wild Things got another run on a very bizarre play. With runners at first and second, John Ziznewski hit a bouncing ball to first base. Gizzlies first baseman Waldrip fielded the ball and turned his back to home plate as he flipped the ball to the pitcher covering. The throw was late to first and Grant Fink took an opportunity scoring all the way from second on the slow roller to give the Wild Things a 3-1 lead.
The Wild Things would add two more two batters later as with the bases loaded, Austin Wobrock lined a single up the middle for his first hit of the 2016 season driving in both Sorondo and Ziznewski to give the Wild Things a 5-1 lead. This took the life out of the crowd of 6,350 at GCS Bank Stadium and put all of the momentum on Washington’s side.
The Grizzlies responded in the top of the sixth with nobody out and a runner on second, Craig Massoni hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot, to cut the Wild Things lead to 5-4. This finished the night for the Cunningham. Zac Grotz came in to finish the inning as he retired the next three batters in order.
The Wild Things were back on the board in the top of the seventh as Wobrock got his second hit of the day and stole his first base of the season with nobody out. Then Haar hit his second home run of the day to left field and increased the Wild Things lead to 7-4. Devon Davis came in to get the last out of the seventh and throw a scoreless eighth inning to keep the score at 7-4.
Austin Wobrock would provide insurance for the Wild Things in the top of the ninth as with one out he hit his first home run of the season over the right field wall to give the Wild Things a 8-4 lead. This insurance run would prove necessary again as Andrew Woeck ran into some trouble in inning number nine.
Woeck got the first two outs of the inning rather quickly as he got Blake Brown and Ben Waldrip to fly out in just seven pitches. Then a two out walk to Brandon Thomas was followed up by a two run home run by Grizzlies catcher Tyler Tewell to make the score 8-6. Woeck would seal the victory for the Wild Things, however, as he got Logan Davis to fly out to end the game.
The Wild Things have an off day on Monday before starting a three game series with the Joliet Slammers starting on Tuesday and running through Thursday night. The Wild Things will send Brandon Hinkle to the mound to start game one of the series. All three games can be heard on the MSA Sports Network with the first pitch on Tuesday at 8:05 p.m.
