Wild Things Compete in Exhibition in Florence
FLORENCE, Ky. (April 29) – In their latest bout of exhibition play on the 2026 spring slate, Washington traveled to Florence to take on the Y’alls Wednesday morning into the afternoon and saw some more positives in a high-scoring affair.
Zach Kirby took the ball to start the affair for the Wild Things and pitched four innings in his final exhibition appearance. He was tagged for back-to-back homers in the hitter’s park of Thomas More Stadium in the second, but those hits were two of the three he yielded in four frames. He struck out six and did not walk a batter.
While he was on the mound, Washington didn’t get much going offensively. They did load the bases in the second before the inning was ended due to pitch count for Evan Webster, Florence’s starter. With two outs, Kyle Edwards singled and the next two hitters, Ryan Ford and Braden Barry, walked. Benjamin Rosengard singled in the third.
Ethan Brown tossed the next three frames for Washington and struck out one while he was tagged for five runs in his outing. Washington did break through for a few while Brown was on the bump. In the fifth, Barry grounded a ball to third with Edwards at second after a single and a stolen base. The throw to first got away allowing Edwards to score but Barry, who slipped and left with injury after he was tagged out to end the inning. In the seventh after a walk to Hunter Stokely and a double by Andrew Czech, Edwards lifted a sac fly to score Stokely and Czech came in on a single by Ryan Ford.
Austin Eaton pitched and had a strikeout after a three-run homer in the eighth hit by Jesse Robinson Jr. that scored himself, Cole Fowler (after a double) and Three Hiller, who had walked. Washington went quietly in the ninth before the teams played on around Edwards walking to reach base for a third time.
Chad Coles worked a scoreless outing and stranded a pair after a softly hit single and a walk. He struck one out too. By then, Florence was out of pitchers to throw, and Liam Rocha came on for the Wild Things. He was tagged for a pair but struck one out around two hits and a walk. After that, Landon Ginn came on and worked the final inning. He walked a batter but fanned two in a scoreless frame.
Other than Edwards, Benjamin Rosengard also reached three times and Ford twice. Cole Fowler doubled in the game too.
The Wild Things will play one more exhibition as the quasi-road trip continues tomorrow at Lake Erie. First pitch is slated for 11 a.m. and the game will be broadcast at washingtonwildthings.mixlr.com on the team’s MixLR page.
The 24th season of Wild Things baseball in the MLB-partnered Frontier League begins Friday, May 7 on the road and at home with the homer opener scheduled for Friday, May 15 against the Schaumburg Boomers at EQT Park. For updates, other information and more, visit washingtonwildthings.com or follow the team on social media at facebook.com/WashingtonWildThings or @WashWildThings on other platforms. Single game tickets are available now and the club’s promo schedule has been released. You can buy tickets here.
