Record night in Evansville

The Evansville Otters set the record for largest attendance in Bosse Field's 97-year history Saturday night when 8,120 showed up on Breast Cancer Awareness Night to see the Otters' 8-7 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies.

Until somebody proves otherwise, I'm going with this also being the Frontier League single-game attendance record.

UPDATE: Received an email from Frontier League deputy commissioner Steve Tahsler concerning the attendance in Evansville.

Steve said the Frontier League's single-game attendance record is 10,250 for a game in Johnstown on July 4, 2000. The game was preceeded by a concert performed by the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and followed by fireworks.

The league's six games on Sept. 5, 2010 set the one-day attendance record of 30,854. Traverse City drew 8,211 that day.

Striz's wild week

In the last week, Nate Striz has driven his car halfway across the country, been told by two teams that they had no place for him on their roster, won two games (including one over a team that declined to sign him) and saved another game.

"Amazing week, huh?" said Striz, who went from unemployed to the Wild Things' closer in roughly four hours Sunday.

Striz, who played his college ball at North Carolina and spent two years in the Cleveland Indians system, was the final cut earlier this month for the Lincoln Saltdogs of the independent American Association (former Wild Things pitcher Justin Edwards plays for Lincoln).

Hoping to catch on with a Frontier League team, Striz called Nick Belmonte, a University of Florida broadcaster who is a consultant for many independent teams, and asked for advice. Belmonte told Striz to drive from Lincoln to Marion, Ill., because the London Rippers, who were playing in Marion against the Southern Illinois Miners, might be able to use another relief pitcher.

Last Saturday, Striz threw for the Rippers but they told him it was too early in the season to make a move with a pitcher who is classified as Experienced.

"They said they weren't going top jump ship on the guys they already have," Striz recalled.
Striz, however, is nothing if not determined. He put in a phone call to Brooks Carey, the pitching coach of the Evansville Otters. Striz knew Carey because the two worked at the same baseball academy in Lakeland, Fla., during the offseason.

Carey said he would watch Striz throw late Sunday afternoon at Bosse Field, if Striz could get to Evansville before the Otters' game against the Wild Things. Carey knew that Evansville didn't have a roster spot open, so he went to the Wild Things' clubhouse and invited Washington pitching coach Tim Ferguson to watch Striz's bullpen session.

Ferguson was actively looking for a power arm for the Wild Things' bullpen and liked what he saw from Striz. Carey said the Otters indeed couldn't sign Striz, so Ferguson and manager Chris Bando offered Striz a contract. There was just one catch: Carey had asked that the Wild Things not pitch Striz against the Otters that night.

"Tim had asked me if I could pitch tonight if I was needed," Striz said. "I said 'Sure' and they signed me to a contract and had it turned in to the league about 40 minutes before the game started. About the third inning, they told me that if there was a save situation, then they'd put me in."

Ferguson didn't plan to use Striz, but as the game approached extra innings, and with the Wild Things' bullpen becoming depleted, Striz was brought in to pitch with two outs in the ninth inning. He benefited from Trevor Pippin's solo home run in the top of the 10th inning, pitched a scoreless bottom of the 10th and earned his first win.

"That was the third time I had thrown in about 24 hours, but the one thing I learned from this is when you think your job is secure, it isn't," Striz said. "Every outing you have to take the approach that you have to prove something. You can't take anything for granted."

As the rest of his new teammates rode the bus back to Washington Sunday night/Monday morning, Striz drove his car back from Evansville.

"I drove three hours that night, stopped and then drove the other four Monday," Striz said.

Two nights after making his Wild Things debut, Striz pitched to one batter in the 10th inning and was credited with the win in a 1-0 victory over Gateway in Washington's home opener. Two days later, he earned his first save.

Striz comes to Washington with an impressive background. He was drafted in  the fifth round by the Minnesota Twins out of high school but did not sign.

"I just wasn't mature enough mentally to play pro baseball at that time," Striz said.

So he attended North Carolina and helped the Tar Heels advance to the College World Series in his freshman and sophomore seasons. A shoulder injury late in his sophomore year gave him a late start to the junior season, but he impressed enough that the Indians drafted him in the 22nd round in 2010.

"I've never been a closer, but it's a job I can like. You throw as hard as you can for one inning," said Striz, who has a fastball that has hit 92 mph. "I like it that a team can think enough of you to put the outcome of the game on your shoulders."

Opening salvo

The Wild Things won their season opener Friday night, which over their history has been rare.

The 4-3 win over the Evansville Otters leaves Washington's record at 3-8 in season openers. It was their first win on opening night since a 4-1 victory over the Slippery Rock Sliders in 2007. That was the night Washington pitcher Aaron Ledbetter tied the Frontier League record for career wins.

The win also marked the first time Washington ended a day with a winning record since July 31, 2009, when they won at Florence 4-3 to improve its record to 32-31. As luck would have it, the Wild Things' bus broke down that night on a trip from Florence, Ky., to Ypsilanti, Mich., for a series against the Midwest Sliders and spent 8 1/2 hours at a Sunoco station in Dayton, Ohio. The Wild Things were swept by the Sliders and had not been above .500 since the start of that series. ... until today.

Here is the game story from the Evansville Courier-Press, though it does not include quotes from anybody from Washington.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/may/19/score-line-otters-hed-herppppppp-deck-hed-goes/

Update: After checking some things Sunday night for Radio Randy, I found a note in one of my statistics books that corrects the above post. The last time the Wild Things were above .500 at the end of a day was June 2, 2010, when they had a 6-5 record. This was in large part because of a road sweep at Kalamazoo in the second series of the year.

Broom service?

The Wild Things have a chance to sweep a series tonight -- on the road, no less -- when they play the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field.

Being the Frontier League team with the fewest road wins (12) this year, Washington getting a road sweep would be something that hasn't for this franchise a long time. Just how long? I had to search a while for that one.

The last three-game road sweep for the Wild Things came May 25-27 of last year, at Kalamazoo. Washington completed the sweep by winning the final game of the series 12-8 in 13 innings. If I recall correctly, Jacob Dempsey had home run in the 13th.

Not the same old Otters

Tonight was supposed to be the beginning of an important stretch for the Wild Things. For weeks, Washington had talked about the advantage of having six games remaining against the Evansville Otters, the last-place team in the West Division. While the other teams in the East -- except Lake Erie -- would be playing more challenging games against West rivals, the Wild Things would face Evansville and Florence, the latter having fallen into fifth place in the West.

This looked like a good thing for the Wild Things, especially in late June when Evansville was off to a 6-25 start.

Well, timing is everything in baseball, and playing the Otters in August might not be the advantage it was thought to be a few weeks ago. These aren't the same old Otters.

Evansville seems to have gotten its act together. The Otters have won seven straight road games entering tonight's series opener at Consol Energy Park.

Evansville also is 8-6 in its last 14 games.

If Washington is going to make a move toward reaching the .500 mark, then it must take advantage of the games against Evansville and Florence. But it's the games against Evansville that might prove to be more difficult for Washington. While Evansville has improved, Florence has been in a tailspin. The Freedom are 5-20 since July 4, with two of the five wins coming by one run. Florence has lost 12 of its last 13 road games.

While there might be some advantage to playing Evansville and Florence late in the year instead of say, River City and Gateway, the break might be in playing the Freedom, not the Otters.

The longest night

The Wild Things tied their team record Wednesday night/Thursday morning for longest game by innings in a 5-4 loss at Southern Illinois in 17 innings.

The 5-hour, 29-hour minute game was easily the longest in terms of time in team history, and the second-longest is not even close to last night's marathon that the Wild Things had a stranglehold on in the bottom of the ninth.

Washington led 4-2 with two outs and nobody on base in the ninth. One out away from a win, closer Taylor Wulf issued a walk that preceded consecutive doubles that tied the score and forced a whole bunch of extra innings.

Here are some of the notables from the game:

* Washington catcher Blake Ochoa hit two home runs.

* The Wild Things' Davis Bilardello made his debut with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

* Wild Things reliever Matt Barnes threw six shutout innings and struck out eight. He did not walk a batter.

* Southern Illinois' Trey Manz, who is listed on the roster as a catcher but entered the game by playing right field, was shifted to pitcher during the extra innings. Manz made his pro pitching debut by throwing three shutout innings and getting the win. The 23-year-old Manz said he hadn't pitched since an intrasquad game in his sophomore year of college.

* Southern Illinois pitcher Ryan Quigley had to play right field for several innings.

* The losing pitcher was Sean Allaire, a backup infielder and catcher who relieved Barnes and started the 17th inning. Allaire pitched in one mopup inning earlier this year. Prior to that, he pitched in only one game in college (an alumni game) and one game in high school. The interesting part is that Washington had two relief pitchers they did not use: Kevin Hammons and Mick Mattaliano. Hammons did not appear in any of the Wild Things' first nine games, except to pinch-hit once in a blowout. He finally pitched in a game Tuesday night in the series opener and faced three batters, striking out two. Mattaliano also pitched Tuesday night, facing only one batter.

* The Wild Things' other 17-inning game was played in 2003 at home against Evansville. The Wild Things lost that one, too, 3-2. That game took only 4 hours and 26 minutes to play and here's why: the home-plate umpire that night had the widest strike ever in baseball. EVER! As I recall, all the pitchers had to do to get a strike call was throw the baseball to between Franklin Farms Road and the Taylorstown exit on I-70.

I know, you think I'm exaggerating. Well, I am. But only a little. Want proof? Here goes: There were only two walks in that game. Think about that for a moment. Only two walks in a 17-inning Frontier League game. None of the walks were issued by Washington pitchers. Only one walk came after the second inning. The first nine innings were played in only 1:58.

Washington's best chance to win came in the 16th inning when Joe Cuervo was tagged out trying to score from third base on a short passed ball. Evansville then won it in the 17th on an error and two singles.

Photo courtesy of the Marion Daily Republican.

Long night in Evansville

The Wild Things lost 7-5 in 11 innings Tuesday night at Evansville as the Otters' Jake Rogers hit a three-run walk-off homer. Washington didn't lose any ground in the standings, however, as the East went 0-6 against the West. Here is the story from the Evansville Courier Press about the game and the Otters' managerial situation:

Read the story here.

Who's running the Otters?

The Evansville Otters have become the second Frontier League team to change managers before the all-star break. Wayne Krenchicki has been fired as manager of the Evansville Otters and his entire coaching staff has been let go.

So when the Wild Things begin a six-game road trip tonight in Evansville, who will be calling the shots from the dugout for the Otters? The team's website still lists Krenchicki as manager, as does the Frontier League roster site. A story in the Evansville Courier Press about Krenchicki's firing mentions that Otters owner Bill Bussing did not reveal his new coaching staff Monday, the day of the firing.

Read the story here.

UPDATE: WJPA Radio's Randy Gore will have an interview with Bussing during the pregame show tonight.

UPDATE #2: According to the Frontier League website, the Wild Things signed pitcher Greg Byron, a pitcher from Canada who is living in Florida. Byron pitched in two games for Quebec in the Can-Am League last month and was released. Also, Bill McKeon was listed as interim manager in Evansville but the Otters' website has a story about the hiring of Andy McCauley as its new manager. McCauley guided the London Werewolves to the 1999 Frontier League championship. Former major league pitcher Rick DeHart will join McCauley's coaching staff.

Cleaning out the notebook

If you thought there were some long rain delays at Consol Energy Park, then you should have been in Kalamazoo, Mich., last night. The Kings and Evansville Otters waited three hours before starting their game at 10 p.m. This three-game series is Evansville's only trip to Kalamazoo, and with rain in the forecast for today (the game is in a rain delay as I type this), they wanted to do everything possible to get in the series opener. The Tuesday game lasted only eight innings before being cut short because of rain.

* Former Wild Things pitcher Patrick Stanley has been fitted for a lot of uniforms this season. Stanley, who is in the Detroit Tigers' system, played for his third team in less than a month Tuesday night when he pitched for the Erie Seawolves of the Class AA Eastern League.

Stanley began the year with Class A Lakeland, was promoted to Class AAA two weeks ago and pitched in one game for Toledo. In that game, Stanley tossed 2.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts and was credited with a win. He was sent to Erie on Friday, and was the starting pitcher Tuesday against the Harrisburg Senators. Stanley pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits with four strikeouts.

* The Frontier League team that will play next season in Normal, Ill., will be called the Normal CornBelters. Ugh!

The name received approximately 40 percent of the votes in an online contest.

“We like it for its promotional, retail and marketing potential," said team president Steve Malliet.

Other nickname finalists were Nutz, Coal Bears, Fellers and Camelbacks. The team will play at a new ballpark on the heartland Community College campus.