Brett Marr's Walk-Off Single Lifts Wild Things to Extra-Inning Win in Series Opener Versus Beach Bums
WASHINGTON, Pa. (June 5) –Second baseman Brett Marr capped off a four-hit night by delivering in the bottom of the 11th inning, lacing a single down the right field line that scored first baseman Reydel Medina to lift Washington over the Traverse City 10-9 in a back-and-forth affair Tuesday night. The win came in the Wild Things first extra-inning game of the season.
The Wild Things (13-9) opened up scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Center fielder James Harris led off the game with a double down the left field line, and three batters later catcher Kyle Pollock lifted a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to score Harris for the early 1-0 lead.
The Beach Bums (9-12) answered back immediately in the top half of the second thanks to an RBI-infield single off the bat of designated hitter Alexis Rivera, scoring first baseman Luke Lowery to tie the score at one.
After two scoreless half-innings, the Wild Things grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the third. Left fielder Roman Collins knocked in Marr with a fielder’s choice with one out in the inning to put Washington on top 2-1. Later in the frame, Medina doubled to right center to bring in designated hitter Carter McEachern for a 3-1 advantage.
Things began to unravel in the fourth inning for Washington starting pitcher Thomas Dorminy. After striking out the first batter of the inning, Dorminy struggled to find the strike zone as he walked four batters and gave up two runs before getting pulled in favor of Trevor Bradley with two outs in the inning.
With the score tied 3-3, Bradley gave up an RBI infield-single to center fielder Arby Fields to put the Beach Bums up 4-3, and then walked third baseman Kenny Peoples-Walls, which scored second baseman Josh Hauser to extend Traverse City’s lead to two. Following a 42-minute rain delay, Bradley came back out to get the final out of the top of the fourth inning with the bases loaded.
The Wild Things chipped back into Traverse City’s lead in the ensuing inning, as McEachern drove in shortstop Justin Bohn on a base hit to center to bring the score to 5-4. However, the back-and-forth game continued into the top of the fifth as catcher Kendall Patrick hit a solo home run for the Beach Bums to extend the team’s lead back to two again.
Marr helped get the Wild Things back on top in the bottom of the fifth, as he connected for a two-RBI single to right to bring the score to 7-6 after the team plated a run earlier in the frame on a wild pitch. Washington added another run in the bottom of the seventh inning off a sacrifice fly from Harris that plated right fielder Hector Roa to extend the advantage to 8-6.
Traverse City mounted a comeback with two outs in the top of the eighth inning, as Sam Mersing walked consecutive batters and then gave up an RBI double to Fields before being relieved by closer Zach Strecker. Strecker immediately gave up a two-RBI single to Peoples-Walls to swing the lead back in the Beach Bums’ favor, 9-8, before recording the final out of the inning.
Heading into the bottom of the ninth trailing by one run, third baseman Mike Hill led off the inning with a double. Bohn and Marr were sat down consecutively after Hill’s hit, and Harris came up and got down to his final strike before launching a triple to deep center field to score Hill and tie the game at nine. McEachern struck out on the ensuing at bat, sending the game to extra innings.
Neither the Wild Things nor the Beach Bums were able to scratch across runs in the 10th inning, sending the game to the 11th where a runner would start the inning on second base with no outs by virtue of the international tiebreaker rule.
Traverse City was unable to capitalize, setting up Washington for a walk-off opportunity. With two outs and runners on first and second, Marr delivered his fourth hit of the night—a walk-off single down the right field line—to give the Wild Things the 10-9 victory.
Jamal Wilson grabbed the win in relief, striking out five batters and allowing just one hit in two innings of work. Marr completed the night 4-6 with three RBIs, a run scored and a stolen base. Harris contributed with a double, triple and two RBIs in the game as well.
Each team used seven pitchers in the marathon affair.
The Wild Things and Beach Bums will be back in action tomorrow evening at 7:05 for the second game of the three-game series.
AROUND THE FRONTIER LEAGUE
Southern Illinois def. Florence 15-6
FLORENCE, Ky - The Florence Freedom (8-13) suffered their 10th loss in a row at the hands of the Southern Illinois Miners (13-8). Although 21 runs were scored on the night, all but three innings were scoreless. The scoring started in the second inning when second baseman Marc DiLeo doubled to plate two runs and give the Miners an early lead. In third inning Southern Illinois was able to plate 11 runs to add on to its lead. Miners catcher Chance Shepard started off with an RBI single to bring in the first run of the inning. This wasn’t Shepard’s only at bat however, as he hit a two-run home run later in the inning. Left fielder Romeo Cortina also homered in the third brining in three runs, while Nolan Earley double to bring in a run of his own. Center fielder Chris Scura and first baseman Joe Dudek each contributed two-run singles in the inning. Earley and Cortina would both score in the sixth to bring in the final runs of the game for the Miners.
Normal def. River City 5-3
O,FALLON, Mo. - The beginning of the game saw a pitching duel between Rascals starter Josh Kiimborowicz and CornBelters starter Jacinto Garcia as both threw two scoreless innings. In the third, the Rascals drew first blood when second basemen Stephen Kerr was able to bring in short stop Dylan Woods. The very next inning the CornBelters were able to comeback when left fielder Andrew Godbold hit a double that drove in two runs. In the bottom half of the frame River City tied it up with a sacrifice fly by left fielder Gerrion Grim that scored first baseman Clint Freeman. The two teams continued to trade blows during the fifth when they both were able to plate one more run making it 3-3. Scoring resumed in the 8th when Normal was able to plate the game winner and an insurance run. Second baseman Justin Fletcher and short stop Santiago Chirino were able to score on a single by catcher Tanner Lubach.
Gateway def. Evansville 5-4
EVANSVILLE, In. - In a back-and-forth game the Gateway Grizzlies (11-11) were able to best the Evansville Otters (10-11) 5-4. Both teams had their bats come alive with each recording 11 hits respectively. Gateway opened up the scoring in the second when second baseman Jonathan Piron was able to bring in left fielder Terry McClure. In the third Evansville came right back with a Brandon Dulin home run. Similarly, in the fourth the teams went back and forth with each scoring a run bringing the score to 2-2. In the sixth inning the Otters took the lead with a sacrifice fly by Dulin that scored right fielder Jeff Gardner. They added insurance later in the inning when catcher Luis Vilorio knocked in first baseman Carlos Castro to make it 4-2 in favor of the Otters. The two teams continued the trend of trading blows in the seventh when the Grizzlies were able to bring in two more runs to the tie the game. Then in the eighth Gateway got the last laugh when shortstop Artemis Kadkhodian walked with bases loaded to score the final run of the game.
Schaumburg def. Windy City 4-3
SCHAUMBURG, Il. - Despite putting up three runs the Windy City ThunderBolts (8-12) could not seem to get their bats going as they only had two hits the entire game in the 4-3 loss to the Schaumburg Boomers (9-12). In the first inning Schaumburg starter Steven Ridings hit and walked the first three batters, which set Windy City up to score on the next batter. However, the Boomers were able to comeback in the bottom of the second with an RBI single from second baseman Jack Parenty. From then on it was all Schaumburg scoring two runs in the third and one in the fifth. After the struggle in the first inning Riding was lights out over the next six frames. He gave up one hit and one run over his seven innings pitched. In the eighth the ThunderBolts were able to plate two runs on an error by Schaumburg catcher James Keller and a passed ball bringing the final score of 4-3.
Lake Erie def. Joliet 5-4
JOLIET, Il. - The Lake Erie Crushers (14-8) topped the Joliet Slammers (9-12) 5-4 in a contest that was backloaded with action. While the scoring did open up in the second inning with a home run by Slammers right fielder Travis Bolin, the rest of the action did not take place until the latter half of the contest. In the sixth an error by Crushers third baseman Matthew Dacey brought in another run for the Slammers making it 2-0. Immediately after, in the top of seventh, Lake Erie came back and tied it with an RBI double by right fielder Dalton Wheat and an RBI single by catcher Bryan DeLaRosa.
In the bottom of the eighth, Joliet was able to tack on another run after an error by DeLaRosa. The ninth inning was all Lake Erie, plating three runs on three hits to make the final score 5-4 and securing the Crushers first-place lead in the East Division.
