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CRESTWOOD, IL -- The ThunderBolts could not end a three-game losing skid after falling behind early, as the Washington Wild Things won the opener of a weekend series at Ozinga Field, 10-5.

Chicagoland native Cole Bellair made his first home start of the season for Windy City (17-20), but was ambushed by the hot-hitting Wild Things (14-23) through the first four innings. A double followed by what later was a sacrifice fly gave Washington an early lead, but a combined six runs scored in the third and fourth innings put the contest out of reach.

A combined 16 Wild Things hitters took at-bats in the third and fourth, as RBI’s from Shaine Hughes, Ryan Cox, Cameron Baranek and Chase Slone gave Washington a commanding 7-0 lead.

The Bolts got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning following a leadoff double from Patrick Mathis and an RBI single from Omar Obregon. Washington would later extend their lead to 10-1 in the sixth on a two-RBI single from Cody Erickson.

Windy City refused to go down quietly as they managed to plate four runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Mathis came around to score on a Tyler Alamo double in the sixth to cut the deficit to eight.

Then in the seventh, Micah Coffey reached on an error, Manuel Mesa walked and Brynn Martinez singled in front of Mathis, who knocked in a run on a groundout. Obregon followed with a single to score two runs to cap the ThunderBolts scoring at five.

The Bolts bullpen consisting of Justin Miller, Blake Hickman, Joel Toribio and Colby Blueberg combined to allow just one earned run over 5.2 innings pitched.

Eric Morell (2-0) earned the win after his six innings of work. Bellair (1-1) was tacked with the loss.

The ThunderBolts will look for their first win in five tries Saturday night with Austin Jones (1-1, 3.86) on the bump. He will be opposed by Washington’s Nick Wegmann (2-3, 4.03).

Saturday is Beatles Night presented by Georgios Banquets, Quality Inn & Suites Conference Centre featuring a pregame concert by Kaleidoscope Eyes with fireworks postgame. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 and the broadcast can be heard on WXAV 88.3FM and wxav.com.

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