Windy City broke ahead early and ended their three-game losing streak with a 5-2 triumph over the Washington Wild Things on Sunday night at Standard Bank Stadium.
Zach Aakhus was the catalyst for the ThunderBolts all night as he reached base five times overall. In the first inning, he began the scoring with a single, coming in to score when Gilberto Mejia followed him up with a double. The score became 3-0 in the second as Michael Torres, Tim Alberts and Guillermo Martinez loaded the bases setting up a Kent Gerst double, bringing in two.
Washington made their only push in the third when Denny Duron led off with a single and eventually scored on a John Delaney ground ball. Michael Parker reached on a fielder’s choice in the same inning and scored when Jacob Dempsey hit an RBI double.
The Bolts responded quickly. They scored once in the fourth and once in the fifth, RBIs coming on a Guillermo Martinez single and Ryan Basham sacrifice fly. Runs were scored by JT Restko and Aakhus. The Windy City bullpen did the rest of the work Ricky Meinhold, Brandon Garner and Nick Hall combined to allow just one hit over the final four innings of the 5-2 victory. Hall picked up his fourth save, pitching the ninth. Joe Scumaci gave up two runs on seven hits over five innings, the longest outing of his career, and earned his first professional victory (1-3). Zach Rosenbaum suffered the loss (0-4).
Windy City and Washington conclude their series in the daytime on Monday. It’s an 11:05 start time for Big Splash Day number one at Standard Bank Stadium. On the field, Andrew Werner (3-2) takes the mound for the ThunderBolts against Tim Smith (4-2). The game can be heard live on WXAV 88.3 fm.
