Magic Number Shrinks to 2 With Game 2 Win, Series Sweep
AUGUSTA, NJ (September 6) - The Wild Things continued their strong pitching this weekend and got more offense in the second game of the doubleheader at Skylands Stadium, winning 5-1 and running the Northeast Division magic number to two. The win was Washington's eighth in a row, which is a new team best this season and earned the Things a four-game sweep of second-place Sussex County.
Washington scored the first three runs of the game in the third inning in the nightcap. Andrew Czech started the third with a single, went to second on a walk on nine pitches to Joe Campagna and went to third on a sac bunt by Cody Young, on which Campagna also moved to second. The next batter, shortstop Nick Ward, doubled down the right field line to make it 2-0 before scoring himself on a run-scoring single by Andrew Sohn. The Wild Things added two more in the sixth on run-scoring batted balls by Grant Heyman and Hector Roa. Heyman's was an RBI single to right and Roa's was a sac fly.
Roa just missed a home run on the sac fly, which would've moved him alone in first in both career home runs and RBI for the Wild Things' organization, but instead it just moved him to the top in career RBI, breaking a tie he achieved at 257 career RBI in game one. The 258th RBI of Roa's Washington career broke that tie with Frontier League Hall of Famer Chris Sidick.
Kaleo Johnson hit a solo home run in the sixth against Wild Things' starter Rob Whalen, who was otherwise great in his second start of the season for Washington. Whalen ended up with a seven-inning complete game for his second win of the season. Whalen fanned seven on four hits with the one earned run over the seven frames.
Washington now heads to Little Falls, New Jersey where they'll play a three-game series opener at the New Jersey Jackals Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. The Wild Things can clinch the Northeast Division with a win Tuesday AND a Sussex County loss at Tri-City. The magic number is two: a combination of Wild Things' victories or Sussex County losses.
