The Washington Wild Things kept their hot streak alive Thursday night, completing a sweep of the Joliet Slammers with a 4-3 win.
Washinton (8-4) held on to a 4-3 lead after running into trouble in the bottom half of the ninth inning. With the bases loaded and just one out, closer Jonathan Kountis was able to get out of a jam with a fly ball foul which was caught behind the plate and a fly ball to center field.
The Wild Things started the game off strong, scoring two runs in the game’s first inning. After Daniel Poma was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a groundout and third on a steal, CJ Beatty drove him in with a sacrifice fly to score the game’s first run. Carter Bell would later drive in Stewart Ijames to take a 2-0 lead.
Joliet would respond by scoring two of its three runs in the fourth inning, Danny Hernandez driving in two with a triple.
Washington, though, would rally and score a run in the fifth and then second baseman Nick Ratajczak would drive in the go-ahead run in the sixth, scoring Max Garrett on a single.
Ratajczak and Garrett each provided two hits for Washington. On the mound, Chris Phelan (2-1) pitched 6.0 innings, allowed three runs on five hits and struck out four to pick up the win. Jonathan Kountis pitched the ninth for the save.
Earlier in the series, Washington won a doubleheader on Wednesday that included the second half of Tuesday’s game, which was rained out.
Before the game was suspended Tuesday due to rain, Washington took a 6-1 lead heading into Wednesday. Ijames kicked things off in the top of the second with a solo shot. The Wild Things scored a total of four runs in the inning off of a Jim Vahalik double and a Daniel Poma single to take a 4-0 lead. Beatty would homer in the third to make it 5-0 before Joliet finally scored on a Marquise Riley groundout. Vahalik would drive in another in the 4th to make the score 6-1 before play was suspended. Washington wouldn’t need to score any runs in the resumed game on Wednesday and held on to a 6-2 win.
Poma, Ijames and Garrett each tallied two hits in the win.
On the mound for the first game, Zac Feusser (2-0) started out on the bump Wednesday in the resumed game and pitched four scoreless innings while dropping his ERA down to an astonishing 0.93.
Game two wasn’t as easy as the Wild Things had to rally for a win. Trailing 2-0 going into the final inning of a shortened game, Washington tallied three runs in the top of the seventh to secure a come-from-behind victory. After a pitching change, William Beckwith walked to score Washington’s first run of the rally. Poma would then drive two runs in on a single to put Washington ahead.
Kountis would come on and pitch the final half frame for the save while Matt Purnell (1-0) picked up the win on the mound, pitching a perfect sixth inning.
Washington is back in action Friday when they host the Windy City Thunder Bolts. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.
Photo Credit: Washington Wild Things Facebook
