WILD THINGS BLANK CRUSHERS ON THE ROAD TO TAKE GAME ONE OF WEST DIVISONAL
WRITTEN BY: MIKE GUISTOLISE
AVON, OH - The Washington Wild Things snatched the West Division Series opener with a 2-0 victory over the Lake Erie Crushers at Crusher Stadium on Thursday night.
Behind some excellent pitching, the Wild Things shut out the Crushers while only allowing three hits. Left-handed starter Kobe Foster was on his A-game for Washington, limiting Lake Erie to just three hits in their home ballpark. The only scoring of the game happened in the second inning; with two outs, RF Brandon McIlwain knocked a base hit into right field, advancing to third after shortstop Ethan Wilder hit a double that bounced over the wall. Catcher Ricardo Sanchez then drilled a base hit into center field, allowing both runners to score and give Washington a 2-0 lead.
The Crushers got a man to third in the sixth on a balk, but that would be as close as they would come to scoring.
On the pitching side, Foster dealt seven shutout innings without allowing a walk while striking out six to grab the win. Right-hander Christian James struck out two in a scoreless eighth before closer Gyeongju Kim came out in the ninth and sat down the Crushers in order.
Right-hander Anthony Escobar took the loss after allowing two runs on five hits across six innings.
The Wild Things are now in a position to potentially clinch a spot in the Frontier League Championship series with a win on this weekend. The second game of the best-of-three-game series will continue from Wild Things Park on Saturday, September 7th at 6:35 PM EDT.
