Cunningham Drops First Decision of 2017 in Series-Opening Loss

WASHINGTON, PA – The Washington Wild Things [28-20] dropped the first game of their se-ries with the Gateway Grizzlies [14-36] Friday night by a score of 3-2 with hits tied at eight apiece.

Recently named a Frontier League All-Star, right-handed pitcher Chase Cunningham (6-1) received the loss for the Wild Things for the first time this season. Cunningham went 6.1 innings while allowing three earned runs on eight hits. He struck out three and walked three. The com-bination of Joe Ravert (1-1) and Trevor Bradley (0-0) were able to strike out three and allow no hits, however, in 2.2 innings of relief.

Opposing pitcher Ja’Vaun West (2-5) pitched six innings of one-run baseball while striking out four Wild Things. Right-handed pitcher Kaleb Earls (0-4) earned his fifth save of the season.

Gateway opened up the scoring in the first inning on a sacrifice fly to right field by designated hitter Blake Brown to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Washington tied the game on a double in the third inning by shortstop Justin Bohn that was a foot short of being a home run to left field wall to tie the game 1-1 after three innings.

Centerfielder Terry McClure broke the tie in the seventh inning with a two-run single to make the game 3-1 after seven innings. First basemen Kane Sweeney, after an impressive series in Normal, singled home centerfielder Rashad Brown in the eighth inning to being the Wild Things within one run, however Washington could not score again to tie the game.

The Wild Things and Grizzlies play game two of their three-game, weekend set tomorrow, Friday, July 8, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Box Score: http://baseball.pointstreak.com/gamelive/?gameid=379076