Wild Things Race to 11-0 Lead, Win 13-7 in Opener
WASHINGTON, Pa. (May 27) – The Washington Wild Things (8-5) defeated the visiting New Jersey Jackals (5-7) 13-7 in a contentious cross-division series-opener.
Wild Things rookie Hayden Pearce recorded his second win of the season dealing six strikeouts, with no runs against him in five innings pitched.
Nick Ward started the bottom half of the third with a bang by hitting a double down the first-base line. Wagner Lagrange cashed in driving him in with a single. With the bases loaded after an Andrew Czech walk, Hector Roa kept the hot inning going with a two-run single to extend the Wild Things lead to 3-0. Roa only got one RBI on the play as the second run came in on an error. Washington packed the bases up one more time, and one run walked in via a Landen Barns hit-by-pitch. Nick Ward found himself back up and drove in two more runs with a gap-shot single. L.G. Castillo and Scotty Dubrule followed suit with back-to-back base hits and carried the third inning onslaught to 8-0 Wild Things.
Cole Brannen continued the scoring by pulling off a squeeze to bring in Ian Walters, who tripled with two gone in the fourth inning. The bottom of the fifth held more success for Washington, with Nick Ward being brought in by a fielder's choice, securing double digits for the Things. A passed ball brought in the second baserunner of the inning bringing it to an 11-0 lead.
The Jackals showed a pulse in the top of the seventh. New Jersey scored a run off a ball that squeaked through the right side of the Washington infield, and later hit a three-run homer to make the score 11-4. Nick Ward led the 7th off with a solo bomb, making it 12-5 Washington, and New Jersey retaliated with two runs in the eighth inning off a hard-hit ball to third base that got away from first basemen Andrew Czech, closing the gap to 12-7.
In the bottom of the eighth, Washington scored Brannen in from third off a fielder’s choice, inching the lead to six runs. The Wild Things were able to ride that last push to the end of the game, securing their eighth win of the year on the back of 13 runs on 13 hits.
The Wild Things and Jackals meet again tomorrow for game two of the three-game series with first pitch scheduled for 7:05. The first 1,000 fans get Wild Things Hawaiian shirts in honor of Jimmy Buffet night, sponsored by Kuhn’s Flooring. Come waste away in Margaritaville! Get tickets to see the action at wildthingstickets.com.
