Frontier League Midwest Finals Primer - Game 5
WASHINGTON, Pa. (September 20) – The Wild Things have won back-to-back games to force today’s decisive game 5 in the Midwest Finals against Evansville at EQT Park, scheduled for 4:05 p.m.
Proving pivotal last night in Game 4 were two big innings as Washington plated five in the first, chasing starter Dylan Zentko after five hitters having entered the frame trailing after a Dennis Pierce double started the scoring in the top of the first. With the bases loaded and one out, Jeff Liquori stayed hot, clubbing a two-run double to left center to give Washington a 2-1 lead. Later in the inning and on the eighth pitch of a battle, Caleb Ketchup drove a three-run homer over the opposite-field wall in right, making it 5-1.
Evansville added a pair on a Sam Linscott triple in the fourth against Kirby but that is all the more they’d get off Washington’s starter, who got his second win of the playoffs with a seven-strikeout, seven-inning quality start. He walked just one.
Washington padded his lead in the bottom of the seventh with four. After striking out in his first three trips to make him 3-for-25 in the postseason and snapping his bat in half over his knee, Anthony Brocato stepped up and delivered maybe the biggest swing of the postseason thus far, a three-run no doubter to left center to make it 8-3. That was followed by Liquori’s second homer of the series, as Washington went back-to-back to make it 9-3. Michael Foltz Jr. worked a clean eighth and Kenten Egbert the ninth to follow suit and finish it off.
Evansville turns the ball over to Ryan Wiltse, who received a no decision after 3.1 innings of four-hit, two-walk, five-strikeout ball in Game 1 of the series, for Game 5. Wiltse was tagged for only run but ran into trouble twice as Washington loaded the bases with nobody out on two separate occasions Tuesday but only managed the one run. Wiltse made 20 appearances during the regular season (19 were starts) and in 97.2 innings, fanned 75 against 39 walks. He faced Washington May 14 and in four shutout innings, allowed three hits and a walk with four strikeouts in a no decision. He faced the Things at Bosse Field again on June 30, a game Washington won 23-10. He was tagged for 11 this and 10 runs with three walks and three strikeouts. Only one homer was in that mix in 2.2 innings. He rebounded well in his next and final outing against the Wild Things during the regular season on August 9. In six innings, he didn’t yield a run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. It’ll be his playoff debut in 2026 and overall. He began his pro career in 2024 with Evansville.
Washington will counter with righty Kelvin Perez who worked five scoreless Sunday in Game 3 of the Wild Card Round against Florence before running into some trouble in the sixth, allowing three runs. He ended up with a no decision in the 9-8 Washington win over 5.2 innings of work. Perez made his first pro start against Evansville during the regular season and it didn’t go overly well after a promising start, as he ran out of fumes toward the end of the outing, which went four and change.
The gates at EQT Park will open at 3 p.m. with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. The winner advances to play the Ottawa Titans in the Frontier League Championship Series starting Tuesday at home for either side.
Fans who aren’t signed up for a subscription to the Frontier League Network, powered by HTN, can save 20% on a monthly subscription to the service by using FLPLAYOFFS26 at checkout at www.frontierleaguetv.com. Tonight’s broadcast is also available on MixLR at https://www.bit.ly/wtmixlr.
The 24th season of Wild Things baseball in the MLB-partnered Frontier League is underway with more great baseball and entertainment to come. 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.
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