FL Washington Wild Things

Knapp Caps Rally with Game-Winning Single for Wild Things

Published on June 11, 2007 under Frontier League (FL)
Washington Wild Things News Release


Washington, Pa - The Washington Wild Things, presented by Washington Federal Savings Bank, defeated the Florence Freedom from four runs down in the bottom of the ninth for a dramatic 8-7 victory at CONSOL Energy Park.

Trailing 7-3 in the ninth, the Wild Things pulled off an amazing five-run rally to pick up the victory. Mario Garza hit a solo home run (4) to start things off for Washington, and Chris Sidick had an RBI single to cut the Florence lead to 7-5.

Jarod Rine then continued the barrage of singles, one of six in the inning, against closer Domingo Acosta and brought in Eric Earnhart. Nathan Messner then singled to plate Sidick and knotted the game at seven apiece.

Then with two outs and two on, Robbie Knapp had the game-winning hit up the middle to score Rine and seal the victory.

The Wild Things opened the scoring in the third inning to take an early 3-0 lead. Third baseman Earnhart started the frame with a single, and rightfielder Rine got a free pass to first to put two on for Nathan Messner, who followed Rine with a three-run homer (5) over the left-field wall.

Florence fought back in the fifth and was able to pull ahead 4-3. To cap off the inning with two outs and two runs already across the plate, Beau Blacken hit a liner to right field for a triple that scored two more Freedom baserunners.

The Freedom added a couple of runs to the scoreboard in the seventh when Ryan Basham knocked a two-run home run over the left-centerfield wall off reliever Jeff Michael, making it a 6-3 ballgame.

Still down three in the eighth, the Wild Things tried to start a rally, but they could not bring in a run because of fine pitching from Freedom closer Domingo Acosta. With only one out and runners on second and third, Acosta struck out Messner and Knapp swinging to end any threat until the the come-from-behind ninth inning.

Washington native Patrick Sadler (2-0) got the start for the Wild Things (12-6), striking out five and giving up four runs in six innings.

The Wild Things will take on the Florence Freedom at CONSOL Energy Park Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 724-250-9555.

Check out the Washington Wild Things Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Frontier League Stories from June 11, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central