Wingnuts force decisive Game 5

Alex Boshers never solved college baseball in five seasons at Tennessee-Martin, finishing with a series of ugly statistics that included a 6.78 ERA in 82 appearances.

Boshers immediately whipped professional baseball, so much so that the Wingnuts called on him with their season on the line on Sunday night against Laredo.

Boshers limited the damage in a crucial sixth-inning appearance, and the Wingnuts took the lead in the bottom of the inning before winning 5-3 in Game 4 of a first-round American Association playoff series at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

The Wingnuts tied the series 2-2 with the decisive Game 5 scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Monday night in Wichita.

“It’s been incredible, being able to come in and (manager Kevin Hooper) and everybody trusting me to come in and put the ball in my hands,” Boshers said. “And giving me the opportunity to do what I do.”

After being signed by the Wingnuts as seemingly a stopgap in late June, Boshers showed no signs of the pitcher who so badly struggled in college that he was forced to pitch for the Kansas Cannons summer-league team as a graduate after being passed over for any professional opportunities.

In 28 regular-season appearances, Boshers allowed more than one earned run once and had a 1.86 ERA. His other numbers improved across the board, most notably his hits allowed per nine innings, which was 13.5 for Tennessee-Martin but dropped to 8.1for the Wingnuts.

“I commend him for putting himself in front of us multiple times,” Hooper said. “Not just once, but he’s come and thrown for us a couple times. He decided to stay here in town last summer to pitch for the Cannons, and he was doing that at the beginning (of this summer). We needed a guy, and we were familiar with him.

“We gave him the opportunity, and he’s taken advantage of every bit of that opportunity.”

Boshers was handed perhaps his most difficult situation yet, entering a 2-2 game with runners on second and third and no outs in the top of the sixth.

After two infield pop-ups got Boshers to the cusp of an escape after three pitches, Juan Silverio hit a slow grounder toward third baseman T.J. Mittelstaedt. After charging in, Mittelstaedt fielded the ball but couldn’t get it out of his glove in time to throw out Silverio.

The go-ahead run, charged to starter Jason Van Skike, scored on the play. But after Phil Pohl grounded out to end the half-inning, the realization struck the Wingnuts that it could have been much worse.

“The goal was to give up nothing,” Boshers said. “I came in with a bulldog attitude, telling myself that I refuse to give up those runs. It does (hurt) that I did give up one of Jason’s, but at the same time he understood that it was damage control and one (run allowed) is fine.”

Though they trailed at the time, Boshers’ clutch pitching energized the Wingnuts, and they responded by taking their first lead in the bottom of the sixth. The bases were loaded for John Nester after a single and a pair of one-out walks, and Wichita’s catcher didn’t need to do much to tie the score.

Nester, though, went bigger, flaring a single to right-center to score the tying and go-ahead runs. The Wingnuts added an insurance run on Harrison Kain’s RBI fielder’s choice, and the rest of Wichita’s bullpen followed Boshers’ lead in locking down the Lemurs.

“Anytime you can stop those guys and come back and put a couple up, it’s definitely a confidence-booster,” Nester said.

The Wingnuts need one more win to complete a rally from a 2-0 deficit in the series and advance to defend their 2014 championship against Sioux City. Even three straight wins against a difficult opponent, though, isn’t quite as improbable as Boshers’ impact in his first turn as a pro.

“Just kind of learning himself as a pitcher,” Nester said. “…He’s doing a great job of competing and taking one pitch at a time. He’s not trying to do too much, just focusing on executing.”

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Wingnuts force decisive Game 5."