Wild Things Shutout, Then Fall in Home Run Derby
July 15, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
Washington Wild Things News Release
TROY, NY - The Tri-City Valleycats used a shutout from right hander Josh Hiatt and a consistent offensive attack to top the Wild Things in game one of Thursday's doubleheader at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium by a final of 5-0.
Hiatt threw a complete game in the seven-inning affair, and took a no-hit bid to the sixth inning. He ended up with a shutout on three hits, one walk and had four strikeouts. Brian Sharp broke up the no-hit bid with one out in the sixth on a single to center. Bralin Jackson and Andrew Czech both singled in the seventh inning.
Tri-City struck first in the second on a single by Carson Maxwell to make it 1-0 and plate Oscar Campos, who'd go on to score a total of three times and move to 7-for-7 in the series in the win. In the third, Denis Phipps homered before the Cats added a fourth-inning marker on a fielder's choice and two in the sixth on Chris Kwitzer's second homer of the campaign, a two-run shot.
Tri-City and Washington played through the extras tied at 1-1 in the series finale and second game of the doubleheader Thursday and it took the new Home Run Derby tiebreaker to decide a winner, which was won 2-1 by the Cats to give them the sweep in the game that goes down as a 1-1 final.
Tri-City started the scoring in the second inning by getting a couple baserunners and with those runners at the corners, Oscar Campos continued his hot series with a sac fly to center to plate Willy Garcia, who had reached on a fielder's choice.
The Wild Things couldn't get going until the fifth. To that point, they had just two base runners as Nick Ward has singled to start the game and then walked on his second trip to the dish. Hector Roa doubled off the centerfield wall to start the fifth before Cody Erickson hit an infield single that the pitcher Turner Larkins got a piece off but couldn't field. After two pop ups in the infield and with Ward at the plate against a reliever, a wild pitch brought home the game's tying run to make it 1-1 as Roa scampered home.
BJ Sabol got a big strikeout of Nelson Molina to end the bottom of the fifth with the tie intact after Steven Colon left the game. He yielded one earned on three hits over 4.2 innings his first pro start and struck out four.
The game went to extras but Trey Cochran-Gill and Alex Boshers worked scoreless extra innings and the game went to a home run derby tiebreaker. Denis Phipps hit one home run and Willy Garcia hit the second for Tri-City to win it after Hector Roa and Grant Heyman came up empty and Bralin Jackson kept Washington alive with one.
The Wild Things suffered being swept for the second time this season and now head to Little Falls for a three-game series against the Jackals that gets going at 11:05 a.m. Friday with a matinee.
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