Washington Splits Doubleheader, Moves Closer to Playoff Berth
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich, - The Washington Wild Things entered today’s doubleheader against the Traverse City Beach Bums with a magic number of two for a spot in the 2017 Frontier League playoffs. Washington (52-43) split the doubleheader, falling in game one 5-4, and beat Traverse City (37-58) in game two, 8-2.
The magic number is now one, as Windy City, at the time of this writing, was trailing Schaumburg in the latter third of the contest, but was in a rain delay.
Brian O’Keefe started game one for the Wild Things, and in the process made his return from the disabled list. He got a no decision after pitching four innings of three-run (two earned) ball. Reliever Trevor Bradley was hooked with the loss after allowing two runs in the fifth.
Washington scored in the top of the first inning to take a lead. In fact, James Harris started the game off with a home run for the fourth time this season. Traverse City scored three times in the third to take a 3-1 lead highlighted by two-run single by Alexis Rivera. The Wild Things took back the lead in the fifth, with three runs. James Harris, Rashad Brown and Bralin Jackson all had RBI singles in the frame, before Arby Fields homered opening the bottom half to tie things at four. Orlando Rivera’s RBI singles turned out to be the difference, as the Wild Things managed to get runners on the corners in the seventh, but couldn’t score.
Game two was much different. Washington scored early and often. Jackson plated a run with a triple in the first before Kane Sweeney lifted a sacrifice fly to plate a second run. Jackson and Sweeney both had run-scoring singles in the third before a run scored on a groundout by Hector Roa, making it 5-0.
Traverse City cut into the lead in the bottom of the third on a two-run home run by Steven Patterson. Washington extended the lead with two runs in the fourth and got one again in the sixth, making it 8-2, which turned out to be the final score.
Aaron Burns pitched four innings and surrendered the two runs on five hits and two walks. He had six strikeouts. Jacob Condra-Bogan pitched the final three innings to close the deal.
You can follow along the results at Windy City by logging onto our social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook. If Windy City loses, the Wild Things are in.
They’ll wrap up the regular season tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. against Traverse City.
