Yeah, it was hot. The kind of hot your grandparents talked about when they were kids. But the Merchants forgot about how warm it was, for a moment at least, when Kyle Wicklund crushed his first home run of the season Saturday afternoon.
Rogers (Ark.) had successfully retired Wicklund earlier in the game. But in the fifth, with the Merchants trailing by one run, Wicklund launched a towering three-run home run over the right-center field wall.
Wicklund’s long ball, as it turned out, was the difference as the Merchants held on for a 4-2 victory over Rogers at American Legion Memorial Park.
“That works for me,” deadpanned Wicklund, who hit a home run here last season to the adjacent softball field behind the center field wall.
The Merchants, after suffering their third shutout loss of the season on Friday against Vinita, Okla., settled for third place in the 2009 Pryor (Okla.) Tigers Summer Classic, finishing the tournament with a 3-1 record. With the win, the Merchants are now a season-high 10 games over .500 at 19-9 entering Tuesday’s District 15 game against Monett. In retrospect, the Merchants were 14-16 at this time last season.
Tadd Wagner, backed by sparkling defensive play, allowed seven hits and two earned runs in six innings for his fourth victory of the season. Wagner (4-0 with a 1.16 ERA) surrendered both runs in the first inning before settling in for the next five innings.
“He’s had three excellent starts in a row,” said coach James Kinder of Wagner. “He attacked guys with his fastball and competed for us.”
Wagner, by the way, began the Merchants’ comeback with a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning off of starter Andy Couture who, up to that point, hadn’t allowed a hit. The Merchants could have made it more, perhaps, had it not been for a base-running blunder with two runners in scoring position.
Even so, Rogers did nothing against Wagner until the sixth. A trio of defensive plays, however, kept Rogers from scoring. Josh Collins made a spectacular diving catch to his left at third base and Stephen Poston threw out a pair of runners, including the final out of the inning at home.
“Josh and Stephen made three great plays,” said Kinder. “Quality pitching and defense will always win baseball games. That base-running mistake could have cost us but we didn’t get down.”
Wagner turned the ball over to the bullpen in the seventh with a two-run lead. Wicklund, who has settled into the closer’s role, worked around a walk for the save. The Merchants, who finished with seven hits, turned a double play to end the game.
Next up, the Merchants are off until 6 p.m. Tuesday when they face Monett at Carl Lewton Stadium.
