By: Braeden Jones
WASHINGTON, PA – In a game with multiple ties where both teams had 13 hits and double-digit runners left on base, the Joliet Slammers (18-25) would fall in a 10-9 walkoff win from the Washington Wild Things (30-15) in EQT Park on Sunday.
The first score of this game went to the home team as the Wild Things showed up early in this one. After leadoff hitter Benjamin Rosengard was walked, Anthony Brocato stepped up to the plate and delivered a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 1st inning. That started the game with Washington in the lead at 2-0.
The Slammers would quickly find their chance to respond when three of their first four batters in the top of the 2nd would be walked to load the bases. A single from Ian Battipaglia would score Jackson Beaman and Peyton Carr, and the final walked batter Brandon Heidal would come home thanks to a single from Tyler Cerny. That would put the Slammers ahead at 3-2.
Joliet would get their chance to extend that lead in the top of the 3rd inning. A sacrifice fly out from Patrick Ward would score Cam Suto who had singled, now doubling the score over the Wild Things. Carr would get a single to continue the hitting for the Slammers, and would come home when Battipaglia hit his second single of the night. Joliet left the 3rd inning with a 5-2 lead.
The Slammers know no lead is too big, so the top of the 5th was the next time they would increase it. Two consecutive singles from Ward and Carr set up a 2-RBI double for Heidal, now bringing the tally to 7-2.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Wild Things would show that Joliet didn’t have enough of a lead to keep it. In a showing where Washington went through 12 batters in just the half-inning, home runs were the name of the game. Brocato got another 2-run shot to also bring Antonio Monroy home, Caleb Ketchup’s only hit of the game would be a 2-run homer to also score Andrew Czech, and Cole Fowler would hit a solo bomb right after Ketchup’s hit. Kyle Edwards was walked after those back-to-back homers, and eventually scored off of a wild pitch. After 35 minutes of Wild Thing domination, they now had the lead back at 8-7.
Joliet’s Jackson Valera would start the top of the 6th inning by being walked, and a Suto single would push him to third base. Valera would step on home plate shortly after when Beaman would shoot up a sacrifice fly ball. While the Slammers couldn’t get the lead back, they had tied the game at 8-8.
That tie was short-lived when a walk and stolen base for Ketchup in the bottom of the 6th turned into a score when Edwards hit a single. Washington was back on top at 9-8.
After watching multiple home runs go over his head in left field this game, Suto started the top of the 8th inning with a no-doubter of his own to left field. While that was the only hit that inning, Suto had done what he needed to and tied up the game again for the Slammers, this time at 9-9.
A few more scoreless outings made the game come down to the bottom of the 9th inning. Edwards started the inning by getting a single for his team, and after a sacrifice bunt from Isaias Quiroz to advance him to second and fly out from Rosengard that did not advance Edwards, one out stood between a win and extra innings. Monroy stepped up to the plate and hit a ball that just snuck over the infield before dropping to the ground, scoring Edwards and giving the 10-9 walkoff victory to the Wild Things in front of their home crowd.
Ending the series with a heartbreaking loss, the Slammers will get a day off before they head to Lake Erie to play the Crushers, starting on Tuesday. After a thrilling victory that has brought them to 30 wins on the season, the Wild Things will also get Monday off before playing at the Evansville Otters, starting Tuesday.
