Wild Things Falls in Extra Innings to End First Half
WASHINGTON, PA – On the final day of the first half of the season, the Washington Wild Things [28-22] and Gateway Grizzlies [16-36] needed extra innings to decide the winner in the final game of their series.
It took until the 12th inning of the game for either team to put any runs on the board, as Gateway came out victorious 2-1 to sweep the Wild Things going into the All Star break.
The teams were in the midst of a great pitching duel between the two starters for much of the game, with left-handed pitcher Brian O’Keefe (2-3) going seven innings and allowing only three hits while striking out four for Washington. Meanwhile, right-handed pitcher Vincent Molesky pitched eight-shutout innings, and limited the Wild Things to two hits, while striking out seven.
Despite having won six-consecutive series entering the three-game set with Gateway, and having a franchise-high eight players named to the Frontier League All-Star game for the Eastern Division, Washington struggled mightily against the worst team in the league.
First basemen Kane Sweeney went 0-4 with a walk, left fielder Bralin Jackson went 0-5 and right fielder Hector Roa went 0-5 with two strikeouts.
With the International Rules coming into effect after the 11th inning, where a runner starts each half inning on second base, Washington was able to get the lead runner out on the first batter in both the 11th and 12th inning.
However, first baseman Jack Hranec scored from third on a fielder’s choice by third basemen Evan Rogers to score the game’s first run. Centerfielder Matt Hearn also singled in the inning to score a run, and put the Grizzlies up 2-0 headed to the bottom of the 12th inning.
In the 12th inning, the Wild Things scored just one run, being unable to come from behind and steal a game from the Grizzlies in extras.
