Washington Falls in Middle Game, Looks to Salvage Thursday
AUGUSTA, NJ (May 18) – The Wild Things (1-4) fell to the Sussex County Miners (5-1), 7-1, in game two of their early-season series. Washington was unable to claim the win after dropping game one in extra innings.
In his second appearance of the season right-hander Rob Whalen took the loss, pitching 5.1 innings with five strikeouts. He was charged with five runs, three of which came in the sixth inning.
Action was scarce in this defensive duel early on, with neither team giving an inch until the top of the fourth frame when Andrew Czech singled past the Miners first baseman and scored Scotty Dubrule, who singled to start the inning, making it 1-0 Wild Things.
Ariel Robinson drove in the tying run for Sussex County in the next half inning with a single through the Washington infield. Isaias Quiroz kept the momentum going for the Miners and hit a hard line drive to the left side of the field that sent in another runner pushing the lead to a narrow 2-1.
The Wild Things continued to struggle with a passed ball scoring a runner in the bottom of the sixth. This brought Washington righty Christian James to the mound who let two runners score off a Mikey Reynolds line drive hit to left, making it 5-1 Sussex County.
Washington’s bullpen could not weather the storm, and Cito Culver blasted a ball over the head of LG Castillo in left field bringing around yet another runner to score. Carson McCurdy kept the scoring going for Sussex County and sent a liner to the outfield, bringing in Culver and extending the Miner lead to 7-1.
The last lead extension would prove to be enough for the Miners, as they rode it out for the remainder of the contest.
The Wild Things and Miners will play the series finale tomorrow at Skylands Stadium at 7:05 p.m. Daren Osby (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will toe the rubber for Washington and take on Sussex County’s James Mulry (1-0, 3.60 ERA). You can watch the game on FloBaseball, the official streaming home of the Frontier League, at flobaseball.tv or on the FloSports app.
