Roster set

The Wild Things cut their roster to the Frontier League-maximum 24 active players Wednesday when they released Ryne Nelson, a right-handed pitcher who was acquired several months ago in a trade.

The Wild Things dealt Trinity High School graduate Michael Lucas to Laredo (Texas) of the independent United League in exchange for Nelson, a relief pitcher. Nelson pitched a scoreless inning in an exhibition game Friday night against Lake Erie.

Washington's starting pitcher in the season opener Friday night at home against the Oakland County Cruisers will be Tim Smith. The remainder of the rotation for series will be Spencer Hylander on Saturday and Steve Macfarland on Sunday. Zach Groh, one of two returning pitchers from last season, will start the season's fourth game, Tuesday at Kalamazoo.

Washington's roster - click here.

Lucas traded

The Wild Things have traded former Trinity High School standout Michael Lucas to Laredo of the independent United League in exchange for pitcher Ryne Nelson.

Lucas pitched in 35 games (all in relief) last season and had a 2-2 record, one save and 3.24 ERA. Opponents batted only .231 against Lucas. From the beginning of the season through July, Lucas was probably the best pitcher the Wild Things had last season. On July 29, Lucas' ERA was a mere 1.93 ERA. At one stretch, the right-hander allowed only three runs over 13 appearances, many of which were multiple-inning stints.

According to the Wild Things, Lucas' girlfriend lives in Texas and he requested a trade to a team in the Lone Star state.

Nelson is a right-hander from Hitchcok, Texas. He has two years of independent league experience with three teams. Last year, Nelson split the season between Texarkana of the Continental League and Grand Prairie of the American Association. He had a combined 2-0 record with four saves and and an impressive 1.27 ERA.

Nelson was drafted in 2004 in the 48th round by the Minnesota Twins but did not sign. he played collegiately at Western Carolina and Lamar.

"I think this trade benefits both teams,” Washington manager Darin Everson. “With Lucas moving down to Texas with his fiance, he will have the opportunity to pitch near family and will do well for Laredo. We are very excited to have Ryne join the Wild Things. He is a hard-throwing reliever who will strengthen our bullpen."

Be like Mike

The Wild Things' pitching has been much maligned this year, but not everyone on the staff has been walking the park or serving up home runs at an alarming rate. It just seems that way. One pitcher who has done very well, and gone relatively unnoticed on this blog, is Michael Lucas. The former Trinity High School and Xavier University pitcher and Chicago White Sox minor leaguer has a 1-1 record and a 2.45 ERA. The latter is the best on the team.

But if you go deeper into the numbers you'll get a better indication of just how good Lucas has been.

On several occasions, Lucas has been brought in from the bullpen not to start an inning, rather to bail out a starting pitcher who has filled up the bases. And Lucas has been nearly perfect in such a role. With runners on base, opponents are batting only .118 (4-for-34). With runners in scoring position, the average is a mere .125 (3-for-24).

"Lucas has inherited situations such as the bases loaded and no outs multiple times and he's done a great job getting out of those," Washington manager Mark Mason said. "He's not a afraid to pitch to contact. He throws strikes. ... He goes into a game with a plan on how to get guys out and it all starts with strike one on the first pitch."

Lucas was given an opportunity to pick up a win Wednesday in the completion of the suspended game against Florence. He pitched four solid innings, allowing only one run.

That outing led to an obvious question Thursday for Mason: Is Lucas likely to get a start anytime soon?

"Not yet," Mason said. "I haven't ruled it out but it's not something that is in the forefront."

Roster musings

Some thoughts and notes after watching two exhibition games Friday against Lake Erie, the latter of which ended in a 3-3 tie after 10 innings:

- The Friday games did little to help manager Mark Mason figure out who to keep in his bullpen. For example, lefty Dan Horvath was the only consistent reliever on the team last year (with the exception of one puzzling outing against Traverse City) but he gave up six hits, two walks and hit a batter in one inning of the day game. Do you judge Horvath on what he did last year or do you write off Friday's outing as just one of those days?

- Sidearmer Kyle Heyne gave up a home run but it was a swing-late fly ball down the left-field line by a left-handed hitter that ended up in the visitors' bullpen. More of a wall-scraper than a blast. Otherwise, Heyne threw strikes. He also has a track record of pitching well in tight situations - he's the all-time saves leader in the Mid-American Conference.

Kedrick Martin walked three over 2 1/3 innings but retired five in a row (two on strikeouts) at one point.

Josh Eachues, Kalen Gearhart and Michael Lucas combined for four scoreless innings (two hits and one walk allowed) in the opener. Each helped his case for a roster spot. My guess is that only Kris Rochelle and Alan Wiggins will make the team as catchers, so does Eachues' value increase because he can be a third catcher? I don't know because I haven't seen him catch this spring. I guess that means no.

- Second baseman Michael Parker went 3-for-4 with a walk in the night game. It looks like he will be an impact newcomer.

- Rob Hedrick is creating another difficult decision for the coaching staff. They like the former California University player's arm strangth as a pitcher, which was not his primary position with the Vulcans. Hedrick played second base in the day game, then pitched a perfect 10th inning in the night game, retiring Lake Erie's 3-4-5 hitters. If Hedrick makes the team it will be as the 24th man, a utility guy who can be worked with all year to refine his pitching mechanics.

- Heyne probably made the team Friday night and Horvath lost a spot on the roster.

- It seems that three pitchers who have locked up spots in the starting rotation are Rick Austin, Craig Snipp and Eric Evans.

- The three pitchers with no pro experience (Michael Mondesir, Brian Honeyman and Hedrick) began the spring at the bottom of the depth chart but tossed a combined eight scoreless innings against Lake Erie.

- Right-hander Jace Smith arrived in Washington Friday night, which brings the number of pitchers in camp to 21. Smith will pitch in tonight's exhibition game.

- Mason has said he wants to trim the roster to 24 or 25 players by the end of the weekend.

Spring training: Game 1

The Lake Erie Crushers, the newest franchise in the Frontier League, scored eight runs in the top of the sixth inning Friday to beat the Wild Things, 8-2, before a crowd of 2,800 school kids at Consol Energy Park.

Five Lake Erie pitchers combined on a six-hitter. Left fielder Jacob Dempsey had two of Washington's hits, including a home run to lead off the eighth inning.

Dempsey was the only Washington player who has locked up a spot in the starting lineup to play in the game. Lake Erie also held out several of its top hitters.

Lake Erie scored all of its runs against left-handed relief pitcher Dan Horvath. The Crushers had six hits in the big inning and combined them with two walks, a hit batsman and two errors.

Four other Washington pitchers - starter Michael Mondesir (3 innings), Josh Eachues (2 innings), Kalen Gearhart (2 innings) and Michael Lucas (1 inning) - combined to blank Lake Erie on four hits over the other eight innings.

Washington scored first on Alex Paluka's triple down the right-field line that drove in Joe Spiers, who had two hits and reached base three times.

The teams will play the nightcap of the day-night doubleheader at 7:05 p.m.