Shawn Smith sure knows the ins and outs of taking the mound, but he didn’t have much luck tonight against the Florence Freedom. Smith struggled early and often and the Wild Things weren’t able to fight their way back, despite two strong half innings in the middle of the game, as the Wild Things fall to one game above .500 in a 7-5 loss.
The Freedom came out of the gate swinging. Literally. Freedom shortstop Junior Arrojo started the bottom of the first inning off with a double. Two batters later, Byron Wiley scored Arrojo on a third pitch single to put the Freedom ahead. Byron scored before the inning was over and the Freedom took a 2-0 lead into the second inning.
After Florence scored another run in the second inning, Washington finally got into the hit column in the top of the third. Unfortunately, Jim Vahalik’s double didn’t lead to any runs for the Wild Things.
Arrojo added a two-RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, giving the Freedom a 5-0 lead midway through the game.
The Wild Things’ bats finally came alive in the fifth inning. Vahalik was hit by a pitch with one out and was later driven in, along with Darian Sandford, by Stewart Ijams, putting the Wild Things on the board for the first time during the game. Washington added three more runs in the top of the 6th inning on a Gus Benusa two-run double that was followed up by a Vahalik double. That would force Freedom starter Jason Wilson off of the hill.
At this point, the Wild Things had tied the game up going into the bottom of the 6th inning.
That wouldn’t last for long, and neither would Smith. After getting the first batter out, Smith walked the next. He was then pulled in favor of Zach Fleshman. Fleshman would soon allow the baserunner that Smith allowed on base to score. As soon as that happened, Fleshman was pulled for Matt Phillips.
The Freedom would score one more run in the bottom of the 7th inning on a solo home run to bring the final score to 7-5 and putting an L in the column for the Wild Things and Smith.
Smith lasted 5.1 innings and gave up six runs on eight hits. Vahalik went 2-3 with an RBI on the night.
Arrojo went 4-5 for the Freedom with four RBIs.
The two teams will square off again tomorrow night at 6:35 pm ET as Michael Oros will take on Shawn Sanford for the Wild Things.
Photo Credit: Washington Wild Things
