WASHINGTON REACHES 1000 WINS WITH WIN AGAINST GATEWAY

Washington vs Gateway 

After earning win No. 999 last night in Florence to earn a sweep, Washington's 51st win of the season, earned Friday night in Sauget, earned the franchise win No. 1,000. The Wild Things join the Evansville Otters, Windy City ThunderBolts (formerly the Cook County Cheetahs) and the River City Rascals (now out of the league) as franchises to hit the big milestone in Frontier League history. The Wild Things, however, are the fastest team to ever accomplish the feat. It took 1,874 games.

The win comes as the club is on pace to break its single-season wins record of 63, set in 2005, and started with a four-run third inning for the Wild Things at GCS Credit Union Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois. Jared Mang hit his 10th homer of the year on the first pitch he saw in the frame as the lead-off man, registering the game's first hit and making it 1-0.

Later in the frame, Wagner Lagrange singled home a pair and Andrew Czech brought in Lagrange with a single of his own. Washington added a run when Nick Ward doubled and scored in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Scotty Dubrule, making it 5-0.

Gateway fought back, scoring in the bottom of the fifth on a groundout and on a Clint Freeman solo shot in the seventh. At 5-2, Gateway got two more, coming on a two-run double in the eighth by Kevin Krause. But the scoring for the Grizzlies stopped there. 

Washington got a run back in the ninth on a fielder's choice off the bat of Jared Mang and an error and Lukas Young slammed the door for his 16th save of the season, which is second in the Frontier League.

Stephen Knapp got the historic win with one run allowed on four hits over six innings in what was his sixth start as a Wild Thing.

Quebec vs Ottawa

Opening up a big three-game series on Friday, the Ottawa Titans (44-32) committed four errors, dropping a 7-5 decision to the division-leading Quebec Capitales.

Brendon Dadson put the Titans in front 1-0 with an RBI double in the bottom half of the second inning. Dadson plated a Clay Fisher double off righty Carlos Sano (win, 3-2), giving the Titans an early lead.

Left-hander Evan Grills (loss, 4-5) took to the mound in the series-opener and allowed three hits in the top of the third, leading to the tying run. Ruben Castro's two-out single to shallow centre scored Marc-Antoine Lebreux from second, tying the score at one.

In the fourth, a one-out single from Jonathan Lacroix set up Kyle Crowl to reach on an E6. After striking out Kyle Sears for the second out, Grills served up a two-run double off the bat of Yoelkis Guibert, scoring a pair.

The Titans responded with two in the bottom of the fourth, as Dadson grounded a Sano offering through the right side, cutting the deficit to one. After loading the bases, Sano plunked AJ Wright on a 3-2 count, bringing home the tying run.

Knotted up at three in the fifth, Yordan Manduey reached to lead off the frame on an E4. Jeffry Parra belted a two-run homer off the foul pole in left, putting the Capitales head 5-3. After setting down the next two, a single and hit by pitch, brought up Sears who singled up the middle to score another run.

After leading the bases loaded in the fourth, the Titans had another chance in the bottom of the sixth, as the Capitales brought in lefty Franklin Parra. Facing the meat of the Titans' order, Parra got out of the jam, getting Tyrus Greene and Jackie Urbaez to strike out.

Out for the seventh, a walk and an E1 on a failed pickoff put TJ White in scoring position. Crowl stepped to the dish with one out and singled, scoring White to make it 7-3.

Grills managed to finish the frame, going seven complete, allowing seven runs, two earned, on 11 hits, walking two, and striking out seven in the loss. Over his last three starts, the Canadian lefty has surrendered 34 hits in 22 innings of work.

Another E6 in the eighth didn't phase left-hander Grant Larson, who tossed a scoreless eighth. Kenny Williams allowed a hit and a walk in one lone inning of work, holding the deficit to three.

Down to their final three outs, Ian Codina hit Jackie Urbaez with the first pitch of the inning, extending Urbaez's on-base streak to 32 straight games. After a strikeout, Fisher made it a 7-5 game with a two-run homer to left. Fisher's seventh big fly of the campaign gave the Titans some late life. After an E4 allowed Jake Sanford to reach, the Capitales brought in Nick Horvath (save, 5), who retired the first batter he faced. Kai Moody drew a two-out walk, as the Titans brought in Malik Williams, who grounded out to end the game.

Trois-Rivières vs New York

Tucker Nathans hit two home runs and drove in five runs as the host New York Boulders continued to work their way up the Eastern Division standings with a 15-6 win over the Trois-Rivieres Aigles on Friday at Clover Stadium in Pomona.

The win was New York's second straight and ninth in their last 10 games and moved them past the Sussex County Miners, 3-2 losers to New Jersey on Friday, and into third place and the second wild card position in the Eastern Division by a half-game. Meanwhile, the 7-5 loss by second place Ottawa to division leading Quebec left the Boulders only 1 1/2 lengths behind the Titans for the runner-up spot.

Nathans hit a two-run home run in the first inning that gave the Boulders a 4-0 lead; then, in the fourth, he blasted a three-run homer that increased the New York advantage to 11-2.

The Boulders also picked up a run-scoring single from Chris Kwitzer and a sacrifice fly by Gabriel Garcia in the first inning. In the second frame, David Vinsky's three-run home run gave New York a 7-0 lead.

The two home runs by Nathans gave him 13 on the season, while Vinsky's dinger was his 18th of the year.

Austin Dennis had four hits in the win for the Boulders.

New York tacked on four more runs in the seventh to extend their lead to 15-5. In the inning, the Boulders got RBI from Garcia, Jake MacKenzie and Max Smith.

For Trois-Rivieres, Steve Brown had a two-run and a three-run home run as he accounted for Trois-Rivieres' first five runs on the night. The home runs were the ninth and 10th of the season for Brown.

July Sosa started and went six innings for the Boulders. He allowed five runs on six hits, while walking one and striking out nine. The win improved Sosa to 5-1 on the season.

Sam Belisle-Springer surrendered seven runs on nine hits in only one-plus inning of work as the Aigles' starter. The loss left him at 7-6 on the year.

Empire State vs Tri-City ValleyCats

The Empire State Greys began a three-game stay at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium on Friday night, kicking off the weekend series with the Tri-City ValleyCats.

Olbis Parra would take the mound for Tri-City, opposing him was right hander Jay Palais.

The right hander would surrender just one hit to the Greys offense to begin the game, a single from third baseman Manny Garcia. Trey Woosley would reach base on a fielder's choice. The first baseman would be left stranded at first when Willies Estrada grounded out to end their first turn at bat. Tri-City would threaten to score during the home half of the first inning, but a Brad Zunica strike out would strand two runners on for the 'Cats. 

Parra would retire Empire State in order in the second, striking out two of the three batters he faced. In the second half of the inning, Carson McCusker would lead off with a roaring double down the left field line. Jesus Lujano would ground out to Empire State's second baseman, Robbie Carling to move McCusker over to third base. 'Cats catcher Austin Elder would drive in the first run of the game on a ground out, plating McCusker and giving Tri-City the early lead. 

The Greys offense would come alive in the top of the fourth inning. Trey Woosley would launch a double into left center field, and Willies Estrada followed suit with a single of his own, putting runners on the corners with one away. Olbis Parra would misfire a breaking ball, bringing home Woosley from third base, tying the game. Hioki Itakura would single later on in the inning, driving home Estrada from second and giving Empire State the 2-1 lead. 

The 'Cats would get the run back immediately in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Denis Phipps would launch a Jay Palais fastball deep over the left field fence. A solo shot that was his 27th of the season. The long ball also tied the game at two. 

Empire State would strike back with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning. A sacrifice fly from Manny Garcia and Trey Woosley's second double of the night each drove a run in, giving the Greys a 4-2 cushion. 

Following back to back fly outs from Mitch Piatnik and Cito Culver to lead off the home half of the fifth inning, Brantley Bell extended his hitting streak to 24 games with a two-out double. Third baseman Pavin Parks would drive Bell in, bringing Tri-City just one run away from tying the game. 

Brac Warren and Jose Cruz combined for five strikeouts over two innings of work with Warren striking out the side in the sixth, and Jose Cruz striking out two of the four batters he faced in the seventh. Cruz would surrender the only hit recorded by the Greys from the fifth inning on. 

Following Culver's single to lead off the seventh inning, Pavin Parks and Brad Zunica would walk to load the bases with two away. Carson McCusker would hit a hard ground ball over to Garcia at third, he would ultimately mis-play the ground ball, allowing a run to score without a throw, tying the game. During Jesus Lujano's at bat, Greys reliever Jesus Rosario would fire a pitch behind the 'Cats left fielder allowing Parks to score giving Tri-City a 5-4 lead. 

Adam Hofacket and Trey Cochran-Gill would work scoreless eighth and ninth frames, closing the door on any possibility of a Empire State comeback. 

Sussex County vs New Jersey

The New Jersey Jackals hosted the Sussex County Miners on Friday night at Yogi Berra Stadium to start off a three-game set this weekend. 

The Jackals looked to continue their winning streak, following a three-game sweep of the Empire State Grays earlier this week. Jorge Tavares would be the starter for the Jackals facing off against John Baker for the Miners.

Both pitchers settled in quickly, posting two quick scoreless frames to open the game. That would change in the third as a hard ground ball back up the middle from Kevin Rolon placed Sussex on top early 2-0. That would be all Tavares would allow, going 6 innings and tallying 5 strikeouts in an otherwise impressive outing.

The Jackals struggled to gain any traction against Baker for a majority of the night until an RBI double from Trevor Abrams in the 5 th scored Jason Agresti to cut the Sussex lead to 2-1.

New Jersey would tack on one more in the 6 th on a groundout from Justin Wylie tying the game at 2-2. Edward Salcedo, making his return to the Jackals, would tally another on an RBI single, giving the Jackals the lead. John Baker went 6 innings, surrendering 3 runs on 9 hits and 7 Ks, but still gets credited with the loss.

Jersey had traffic on the bases all night, but were unfortunately only able to scratch across three, going 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Their eleven hits were unable to yield a higher return. Fortunately for them, the bullpen managed to shut it down, as Juan Perez, Hansel Rodriguez, and Jose Ramirez all went scoreless to lock down the Jackals win. Edward Salcedo

made his mark in the field as well, gunning a runner from left field at second base to cut down Juan Harris for the second out of the ninth, an impressive play to cap off an electric finish at 3-2.

Florence vs Lake Erie

The Lake Erie Crushers pitching trio of Matt Mulhearn, Nathan Holt and Alexis Rivero combined to toss a four hit shutout at Mercy Health Stadium on Friday night, as the Crushers defeated the Florence Y'alls, 2-0. 

The victory for the Crushers (37-39) was their fifth in seven games against Florence this season, while the loss for the Y'alls (31-44) marked their second shutout loss of the year. 

The starting pitchers for both teams performed very well. Matt Mulhearn (4-3), made his first start in 12 days and turned in one of his best performances of the season. He tossed seven and a third scoreless innings of work, allowed just four hits and struck out a season high, 10 batters to pick up the win. 

Mulhearn's counterpart, Bobby Braband (2-5) picked up the hard luck loss. He allowed just a run on six hits over seven innings and struck out seven batters. 

Lake Erie plated the game's first run on a double steal in the bottom of the third. Casey Combs was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and he made his way to third moments later on Sean Cheely's single to center. With runners at the corners, the Crushers pulled off a double steal, as Cheely stole second and Combs scored on the throw down to second base.

The Crushers added a huge insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jackson Valera belted a one out double to left field and he came around to score on Kemuel Thomas-Rivera's RBI single to center. 

The Y'alls had chances to score in the final two innings, but the Lake Erie bullpen kept them off the board. Nathan Holt was able to maintain the lead in the top of the eighth when he inherited a situation with runners at the corners and one out, before Alexis Rivero (13) worked a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his third save in as many nights. 

While pitching dominated the night, three Crushers hit safely multiple times. Valera, Cheely and Austin White all turned in two hit games for the Crushers, while Kokko Figueiredo drew a walk to extend his on base streak to 12 games. 

Evansville vs Joliet

The Evansville Otters fell behind in the fourth and never recovered, falling to the Joliet Slammers 4-2. 

The scoring commenced in the fourth when the Slammers used a Matt Feinstein solo home run to jump ahead. 

Joliet got at Evansville starter Justin Watland in the sixth, cashing in on a pair of one-out walks when JP Fullerton drove both in with an RBI double to right center. Immediately after, another run came across with an RBI single from Kyle Jacobson. 

Jacob Bowles entered the game to complete the sixth inning for Evansville, grabbing the final out within the next at-bat. 

The Otters finally struck in the seventh as Brody Tanksley brought in a run with an RBI double to right field.

In the eighth, Evansville tried at the comeback attempt once more. Elijah MacNamee brought in the final Otters run on a fielder's choice groundout. 

Joliet closer Tyler Jay entered in the ninth, shutting down Evansville in order to earn a save. 

The win belonged to Cam Aufderheide, his seventh of the season. He allowed just one run on five hits in his 6.2 innings of work. Justin Watland received the loss, dropping him to 4-4 on the season. All four Joliet runs belonged to him.

Tanksley and Steven Sensley both secured multi-hit days for Evansville. Miles Gordon's hit streak hit 20 games with a single in the second inning.

Schaumburg vs Windy City

The Schaumburg Boomers jumped into second place in the West Division with a 4-1 win over the Windy City ThunderBolts behind strong pitching and a pair of homers from Mike Hart.

Hart opened the scoring by leading off the top of the third with a solo homer, his 10th of the year, after the Boomers had stranded five in the first two. Alec Craig pushed the lead to 2-0 with an infield single with two outs in the top of the fifth. Aaron Glickstein did the rest of the work. Glickstein did not allow a hit until the fourth and retired eight straight from the fourth into the seventh.  

Windy City cut into the deficit with a single run in the seventh but Hart hit his second homer of the year in the ninth, a two-run shot to straightaway center to score Chase Dawson as the Boomers led 4-1. Darrell Thompson stranded runners at second and third in the bottom of the ninth, striking out the side for the 10th time this year to record his 11th save.

Glickstein fanned seven in seven innings to earn his sixth win of the year. Jake Joyce bridged the gap to Thompson with a scoreless eighth. The pitching staff recorded 10 strikeouts and added to their league best total with a fourth consecutive double-digit showing. The Boomers have struck out 82 batters in the last seven contests.  

Hart led the offense with three hits and three RBIs. Braxton Davidson walked three times to extend his on-base streak to 32, matching the second longest streak in team history. Blake Berry has reached in 14 straight after drawing three walks to go with a single. Craig tallied two hits and two walks, matching his franchise single season record for walks set last year.