WASHINGTON, PA – Travel days were a major problem for the ThunderBolts in 2010. So far in ’11, they haven’t been a problem.
The Bolts took to the road for the first time on Friday and dominated the Washington Wild Things from start to finish, improving to 5-2 with a 10-1 victory over the Wild Things at CONSOL Energy Park.
Windy City did not score in the first, but wasted no time in the second. Zach Aakhus led off the inning with a single, followed by a Garrett Regan walk and a Chris Wade single that scored Aakhus. After a wild pitch moved both Regan and Wade into scoring position, Chase Porch knocked them in on a single. Mike Torres then walked and Josh Womack singled, loading the bases. Brandon Anderson scored Porch on a fielder’s choice, and then, as Things starter Jason Santana seemed primed to get out of the inning, Scott Lawson fielded a routine grounder, and threw towards first, pulling first baseman Ernie Banks off the bag. The error scored two more runs and the ThunderBolts led 6-0. It was the second time already this year that they had posted at least six runs in a second inning.
Washington got their only run in the bottom of the second on back-to-back extra base hits. Kevyn Feiner tripled and Banks doubled him in.
That was the only offense they mustered against Matt Costello, who looked excellent, earning his first ThunderBolt win. He struck out eight while walking just one and allowing four hits over seven innings.
The Bolts got a little extra offense later in the game. In the fifth inning, Regan doubled home Aakhus and Basham, then he did the exact same thing in the seventh. Overall, Regan finished with four RBI and Aakhus scored three runs.
Costello got the win (1-1) and rookie starter Santana took the loss (0-1). Tomorrow, the same two teams will face off at CONSOL Energy Park at 5:35 CDT. Bryant Cotton (0-0) will take the hill for Windy City against Casey Barnes (0-0) for the Wild Things. Audio pregame begins on SportsJuice.com at 5:15.
