By: Braeden Jones
WASHINGTON, PA – When you hear about a baseball team that hit four home runs in a single game, you wouldn’t be crazy to think that they easily won. But that was not the case tonight, as even with all those deep shots, the Washington Wild Things (28-14) could not pull out the victory as the Joliet Slammers (17-23) would take the 6-5 victory on Friday.
The Wild Things got on the board early for their home crowd after leadoff hitter Antonio Monroy was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 1st inning. Andrew Czech was the one to score Monroy off a single, giving Washington a 1-0 lead to start this game.
This lead would be doubled in the bottom of the 4th when Kyle Edwards hit what would be the first of many home runs in this game, with his being a solo shot. The Wild Things now had a 2-0 advantage after four innings.
That score didn’t last long as a double from Joliet’s Patrick Ward set up a sacrifice fly out from Blake Berry to bring Ward home in the top of the 5th. While the home team still had the lead at 2-1, the Slammers were closing in.
Washington began to pull away when Czech hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th inning, which was immediately followed up by another solo home run from Caleb Ketchup. That pushed the score to 4-1 for the Wild Things.
It looked like that score would hold until the Slammers found late life in the top of the 7th inning. Tyler Cerny got a double and came around to score when Berry hit a single, and Jackson Valera hit a single of his own. With two runners on base, Cam Suto came up to the plate and hit a 3-run home run, giving his team the 5-4 lead.
In the bottom of the 9th inning, Joliet just needed three outs to win this game. They could only get one before Monroy hit the fifth total home run of the game, the fourth solo blast for the Wild Things. That tied the game at 5-5, which is where it would stay to force extra innings.
The top of the 10th inning saw Peyton Carr starting at second base in place of Jackson Valera. After a hit-by-pitch and intentional walk loaded the bases, Carr rushed for home plate from third base off a wild pitch and slid just under the tag to be called safe. They left the half-inning with the 6-5 lead, which is where the score would stay after Washington’s last chance in the bottom of the 10th.
Now on a season-high five-game winning streak after coming off a season-worst six-game losing streak, the Slammers will look to win both games of the doubleheader against the Wild Things on Saturday. Still looking to reach 30 wins in this series, Washington aims to win the doubleheader matchup at EQT Park on Saturday.
