Another loss for Wild Things, record for Ledbetter

Southern Illinois scored five times in the bottom of the eighth inning Wednesday night to beat the Wild Things 8-3 at Rent One Park in Marion, Ill.

The loss drops the Wild Things' record to 5-8.

Washington starting pitcher Aaron Ledbetter (1-2) took the loss but he pitched very well - 7 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. He looked like the Ledbetter of old, retiring 10 in a row at one stretch and 16 of 17 entering the decisive eighth.

Ledbetter also set the Frontier League record for career strikeouts when he fanned Jake Smith in the fifth inning. The right-hander has 438 career strikeouts. He moved past Matt Schweitzer (434). Ledbetter now holds the FL records for wins, starts, innings pitched, strikeouts and is tied for the complete game mark.

Again, some shoddy defense and a couple of baserunning mistakes hurt the Wild Things. They committed four errors for the second consecutive game. One error led to an unearned run in the second inning. In the decisive eighth, Washington made throwing errors in the outfield and on a bunt. Also, a Miners batter reached base safely after striking out swinging because the pitch went to the backstop.

In the top of the first, Washington's Jacob Dempsey - he drove in two of the Wild Things' three runs - was at second base with two outs when Nathan Messner hit a single up the middle that SI shortstop Mike Scanzano fielded behind the second-base bag. Dempsey never stopped running and tried to score on the play but was thrown out at the plate.

In the seventh, Dempsey doubled home Phil Butch with the game-tying run but was thrown out attempting to stretch the hit into a triple. It was the first out of the inning. Ouch!

From The Southern newspaper's Miners blog comes this eye-popping quote from Washington manager Greg Jelks:

“Aaron threw an outstanding ballgame and we had the situation where I brought my setup guy in and he left the pitch up and then it looked like everything broke loose. I really have to question the heart of my ballclub right now.”