Opening Day Recap
WASHINGTON, Pa. (July 9) - On Opening Day, presented by Beef Jerky Outlet, the Baseball Brilliance Sox and the Steel City Slammin' Sammies came away victorious. The Sox defeated the Road Warrior Black Sox 12-2 in the afternoon matinee contest, while the Slammin' Sammies bested the Washington Wild Things in the nightcap, 3-1.
In the first game, Baseball Brilliance jumped on Black Sox' starter Skylar Janisse to the tune of five runs in the first, two in the second and two in the fourth before the former Joliet Slammer was removed from the game. Trey Hunt's run-scoring single got the ball rolling for the Sox in the first before a few sac flies and a two-run homer by Danny Muller capped the first-inning onslaught.
Andres Rios hit a solo shot to lead off the second before Brennen Price singled home the seventh run. Price then homered to lead off the fourth and Hunt was plated by Jacob Bockelie, which closed the book on Janisse (0-1). Janisse allowed 12 hits and nine runs over three innings and change. The Sox plated two more in the fifth and a run in the eighth, unearned. The Road Warrior Black Sox scored singular uns in the third and ninth innings.
Nate Peden got the win for the Sox after six innings of one-run ball. He fanned six to move to 1-0.
In the night's second game, it was the Steel City Slammin' Sammies to get off to the hot start. Former Blackhawk High School and Slippery Rock University Joe Campagna homered off Wild Things' starter John Havird as the second batter of the game. Nick Ward led off the second with a home run. Havird ended up getting tagged with the loss, falling to 0-1, as the two home runs were two of the three hits Havird allowed in his five innings of work.
Former Norwin Knight Tommy Shirley started for the Slammin' Sammies and logged four innings of shutout ball before giving way to Austin Kitchen, a Mt. Lebanon grad, who got the win after two innings of one-run ball. The run was unearned. Jordan Jankowski, a Peters Township product, picked up the save despite the Wild Things managing to bring the winning run to the plate in the ninth.
Washington scored on an error in the sixth before Steel City scored when Saige Jenco had taken off on a pitch trying to steal third that was grounded to second. Jenco scored on the play. Ward was the only Slammin' Sammie to record a multi-hit game, while Chris Kwitzer was 2-for-4 for Washington.
The action continues tomorrow with the Black Sox and Slammin' Sammies starting the day off at 3 p.m. The Wild Things host Baseball Brilliance at 7 p.m. Both games will be live streamed on the Wild Things Baseball Network and tickets are available at washingtonwildthings.com.
View the box scores for each game with the links below and starting tomorrow, you'll be able to view cumulative stats for each team on the Wild Things' website.
