Washington got off to a quick lead when Ernie Banks hit his 18th homerun of the season in the first inning. Not to be outdone, Grant Psomas added a two-run shot of his own (21) to extend the lead in the first. The blasts gave the Wild Things an early 3-0 lead. Florence second baseman Billy Mottram continues his dominance of Wild Thing pitching hitting his second homerun of the series, a three-run shot, in the first inning to tie the game up at 3-3.

Catcher Alan Robbins got in the act with a homer (3) in the second inning giving Washington a 4-3 lead. Banks continued to swing a hot bat with a double in the third inning. After he stole third, he came around to score off a wild pitch to push the lead to 5-3. After a Banks sac-fly in the fourth scored Michael Parker, Jacob Dempsey hit a two-run homer (18) to put the lead out of reach at 8-3, giving the Wild Things four homeruns in the game.

The Freedom didn’t go away quietly however, as they pushed the score to 8-6 after a two-run homerun in the eighth inning by Erold Andrus. The bullpen was able to hold them at bay however sealing the 9-8 victory after a close call in the ninth.

Washington starter Jason Neitz picked up his sixth win of the season giving up four earned runs. Neitz struck out three over six innings while surrendering two walks and six hits.

Second baseman Michael Parker’s hitting streak came to an end at 24 games.

The Wild Things will look to take the series against the Freedom in the final game of this three game series Friday.