** The following is an official recap from WashingtonWildThings.com **
The River City Rascals rallied from an early deficit to defeat the Washington Wild Things, presented by Washington Financial, 5-4 at CONSOL Energy Park Sunday evening.
The Wild Things (17-15) led 2-0 after two, and had the bases loaded with one out in the third, but they could not take advantage of that opportunity. River City (13-19) would make Washington pay by plating three in the top of the fourth.
Gary Lee (2-3) walked in the Rascals’ first run after giving catcher Danny Canela a free pass. Two batters later, centerfielder Curran Regal doubled, bringing in two and giving River City its first lead of series at 3-2.
Washington got off to a hot start in the first three frames of the game.
In the bottom of the first with two outs, first baseman Stewart Ijames doubled down the left field line. Designated hitter Mark Samuelson brought home Ijames with a double of his own off the left field wall.
During their next at-bat, Washington added another run in the form of catcher Jim Vahalik‘s solo home run (his second) over the left field wall on the first pitch he saw from Tommy Mendoza (3-3) for a 2-0 lead.
The Wild Things stayed hot in the bottom of the third; with the bases loaded and with one out, Washington could not capitalize and the Rascals scored three in top of the fourth.
River City added two more insurance runs off Lee in the top of the sixth.
Catcher Danny Canela hit his first home run of the year over the video board in right field. With two outs right fielder Evan Crawford hit a double down the right field line, he would score when the next batter, left fielder Jake Atwell, singled him home for a 5-2 lead.
Third baseman Jovan Rosa opened the bottom of the eighth with a single and second baseman CJ Beatty ripped a triple scoring Rosa. Beatty scored two batters later when shortstop AJ Nunziato reached on an error and the Wild Things came within one run of tying.
The Wild Things seen destined for a rally with runners on the corners and two out. Rosa was at the plate and lined out to shortstop to end the game.
Washington will travel to Florence to take the Freedom on for a three game series starting Tuesday. Listen to the game on WJPA 95.3 FM. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
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Box score: http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/boxscoretext.html?gameid=124069
Photo Credit: Washington Wild Things
