Washington Wins 7-4 in Front of Sellout Crowd
WASHINGTON, PA – The Washington Wild Things (11-8) defeated the Traverse City Beach Bums (9-10) in the first game of the series 7-4 Friday, June 2.
Left-handed pitcher Brian O’Keefe (0-1) started on the mound for the Wild Things, going 4.1 innings while allowing three earned runs on five hits and striking out three. For Traverse City, left-handed pitcher Nate Abel (1-1) went 6.1 innings, giving up four hits and four runs while striking out two. Right-handed pitcher Jordan Schwartz (1-2) got the win for the Wild Things, while right-handed pitcher Jake Ezell (1-1) got the loss and right-handed pitcher Zach Strecker (3-0) earned his fourth save of the season in the win for Washington.
The Wild Things opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first inning after back-to-back doubles by centerfielder Rashad Brown and second baseman Alex Fernandez to start off the game giving Washington a 1-0 edge. It would extend the lead to 2-0 after a sacrifice fly by first baseman Kane Sweeney.
In the third inning, Brown once again doubled down the right field line to lead off an inning, and was brought home by a single off the bat of Sweeney to give Washington a 3-0 lead after three full innings.
Traverse City’s first run came across the plate in the top of the fourth inning when shortstop Will Kengor singled home centerfielder Arby Fields to cut Washington’s lead to 3-1 after four innings. Traverse City would plate two more runs in the fifth inning to tie the game at three heading to the sixth inning.
In the seventh inning, second basemen Steven Patterson for Traverse City launched his sixth home run of the year, a solo shot, to give the Beach Bums their first lead of the night, 4-3 after six-and-a-half innings.
However, the Wild Things responded, scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead that would cement them a victory. Shortstop Trevin Sonnier singled to score designated hitter Stefan Sabol and tie the game at four, while Brown hit his third double of the game to score two runs and give Washington a 6-4 lead after eight innings.
Washington would score one more run off a fielder’s choice by third baseman Kenny Peoples-Walls to end the scoring at 7-4 for the night.
Traverse City and Washington played tonight's game in front of the first sell-out crowd of the 2017 season at Wild Things Park, and play game two of the three-game set tomorrow, Saturday, June 3, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
