By: Braeden Jones

WASHINGTON, PA – A thriller of an end in game one of a doubleheader led into a dominating victory in game two, as the Washington Wild Things won both games over the Joliet Slammers on Saturday.

After the first game of the three-game series between the Wild Things (10-5) and the Slammers (3-11) was postponed due to bad weather, the teams decided to push it back a day and play a doubleheader instead. This means that both games were changed to seven inning matches and would be played back-to-back.

Washington got on the board early in game one for their home crowd, as a Cole Fowler single scored Connor Peek to give the Wild Things a 1-0 lead to end the bottom of the 1st inning.

Joliet struggled to make it on base as Washington starting pitcher Kobe Foster had a no-hitter going through most of this game. However, the Slammers were finally able to break through and get some base hits that led into an RBI double from Nico Bermeo to tie up the game at 1-1 after the top of the 7th.

The Wild Things could not get on the board in the bottom of the 7th, which meant that this shorter game was going to extra innings.

The Slammers struck first with an RBI single by Ian Battipaglia to score Billy Sullivan, which gave Joliet their first lead of the game at 2-1 after the top of the 8th inning.

 

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Fowler made sure the Wild Things weren’t out of this game with his second RBI single of the game, this time scoring Caleb Ketchup. A few more outs ended the bottom of the 8th tied at 2-2, which meant that it was sudden death time in Washington.

The Wild Things chose to field, which means that they had to hold the Slammers scoreless for a half-inning. That turned out to be the right decision as three quick outs sealed the deal for Washington for a 2-2 sudden death victory.

Both teams then took a 30 minute break and came back out to play the second game of this doubleheader.

The Wild Things had their first score in the bottom of the 1st like the previous game, only this time they got four on the board off of a few wild pitches and an RBI double from Fowler. This marked Fowler’s third scoring hit in two games, and Washington left the bottom of the 1st inning with a 4-0 lead.

The Slammers once again were shut down by efficient pitching, this time by Washington’s starting pitcher Hector Garcia. Through seven innings, there was only one hit allowed and no walks given, quieting the Joliet bats.

The Wild Things were in the opposite position as they seemed to get hits whenever they wanted in the bottom of the 5th. After running through their entire batting order plus a little extra, Washington added seven runs to the tally to bring them up to 11-0, which ended up being the final score after seven rough innings for the Slammers.

After winning two games in one day, the Wild Things will rest overnight before playing the third game of the series against the Slammers at EQT Park on Sunday. Following a close and not-so-close loss, Joliet will look to start fresh and finish off the series against Washington with a win on Sunday.