Another Brilliant Start Leads to 8th Straight Washington Win
WASHINGTON, Pa. (May 23) – In front of a stellar Thursday night crowd, the red-hot Washington Wild Things won the final game of the series over the Evansville Otters 5-2. The win marks Washington’s third-straight series sweep, as they improved their win streak to eight games and are now tied in first place with Schaumburg at 8-3. Washington’s last eight-game win streak occurred in September of the 2021 season.
The team was propelled to their first home series sweep with the help of Dariel Fregio on the mound. It was Fregio’s first win of the young 2024 season, where he cruised through the Evansville order to accomplish his second career complete game. His final stat line was highlighted by nine strikeouts and only one walk while conceding seven hits and two runs.
He started the game by retiring the side in order during the first inning, then stranding a pair of runners on base in the second, after allowing back-to-back batters to reach base with two outs. Parker Brahms, the starting pitcher for Evansville, matched Fregio with two scoreless innings of his own. Three of the first six outs for Evansville came by the way of strikeouts from Brahms.
Parker Brahms recorded the first out of the third by striking out Alex Ovalles. With one out, Evan Berkey was the catalyst of the scoring after getting hit by an inside fastball from Brahms. After reaching base, he stole second base with Caleb McNeely at the plate. Following the solen base, Brahms surrendered back-to-back RBI hits to McNeely and Carson Clowers, making it 2-0.
Dariel Fregio continued his dominance into the top half of the fourth, where he retired the side in order for a second time, in addition to retiring seven-consecutive Evansville batters.
On the other side, Tommy Caufield stroked his second hit of the night and stole his seventh base of the season. Washington’s turn to bat in the fourth was halted by a rain delay, which started at 8:05 and lasted for almost a full hour. The rain did not put a damper on the Wild Things offense, although, which was able to scratch across a third run after resuming play. JC Santini poked a hit right back up the middle to score Caufield.
After a scoreless fifth inning for both sides, Evansville finally recorded their second and third hits of the game from Mozley and Bost with one out in the top half of the sixth. Fregio, up to that point, retired eleven Otters in a row and did not allow a hit since the second inning. The three hitter for Evansville, David Mendham blistered an offering from Fregio right back where it came from, but Clowers, Washington’s shortstop, who was already shading towards second base, had the extra step he needed to make a diving play, which ended the inning with a highlight reel 6-4-3 double play.
Washington continued to pile on in the home half of the sixth. Tyreque Reed, who hit the ball hard in all three of his plate appearances into the inning, hit a hard grounder into center for a base hit. The next batter, Tommy Caufield, skied a moonshot over the left field wall for a two-run home run, which increased Washington’s lead to 5-0.
In the top of the seventh, Fregio faced the minimum once again, and the inning ended the same way the last one did with a 6-4-3 double play. Dariel Fregio got the first out of the ninth inning on a lineout to left. After this, he yielded two runs to the Evansville Otters, but he was able to finish off his marvelous performance with a game-ending double play.
The announced attendance of 2,130 fans came out to Thirsty Thursday at Wild Things Park highlighted by the Coors Light Brew Kickoff presented by the Molson Coors Beverage Company and the Wild Things honored the 2023 Class 1A Football Champion Fort Cherry Rangers prior to the game.
The first-place Wild Things are back at home tomorrow for game one welcoming in the Gateway Grizzlies for Fireworks Friday presented by Big Brothers Big Sisters Greater Pittsburgh as well as Washington Community Night presented by Universal Windows Direct. First pitch tomorrow night is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
