Washington Wins Pitchers' Duel in Series Opener With Florence
WASHINGTON, Pa (June 28) - The Washington Wild Things hosted the Florence Y’alls to begin a three-game series at Wild Things Park Tuesday night. Andrew Czech played hero, hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning to guide the Wild Things to a 2-1 win.
Both teams struck early following first pitch. Harrison DiNicola homered as the game's third batter to give Florence an early 1-0 lead. The Wild Things answered their first trip to the plate in the bottom half when Nick Ward walked, went to third on an error on a failed pickoff and scored on a Wagner Lagrange RBI double. A pitcher's duel ensued following each team’s first chance in the batter’s box.
Washington starting pitcher Kobe Foster was stellar for the Things. Foster did not allow a hit following the DiNicola solo home run. The right-hander worked around runners on the basepath the entire night, walking five batters and striking out six in five innings pitched. Righty Christian James followed and delivered two scoreless innings of his own, allowing two base runners on a walk and hit-by-pitch and got the win.
Despite the quality pitching, the Washington bats were quiet until the seventh. Two pitches after Andres Sthormes left the game, Czech left the yard. The Wild Things' first baseman drove in the first run since the bottom of the first, smashing a ball just fair inside the right-field foul pole. Washington took the lead for the first time 2-1 and never relegated it back.
Manager Tom Vaeth called upon left-hander Kenny Pierson to pitch the eighth. Pierson struck out the first two batters he faced looking but allowed a two-out bloop double to Alberti Chavez and a free pass despite drawing the count full on DiNicola. Eric Mock, in only his third appearance, walked Brennan Price to load the bases. He induced a ground ball to the next hitter and snuck out of the jam. Lukas Young hit the first batter he faced but locked down his seventh save of the season to hold on for the win.
Washington limited Florence to only one run on two hits, but did walk eight and hit two batters while recording two runs on seven hits of its own.
The Wild Things (26-14) and Florence Y’alls (17-21) meet for the middle game of a three-game series on Wednesday. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. for another Senior Slugger Program Wednesday, where fans 50 and older receive a free ticket courtesy of the Pennsylvania Lottery. Tickets can be found at wildthingstickets.com.
