Doggy Paddlers work their way out of late-inning jams to preserve franchise’s first vicrory

QUINCY — The man who hit the first home run in Quincy Doggy Paddlers history also caught the final out of the franchise’s first victory.

Doggy Paddlers reliever Noah Wilder inherited runners on first and second with Quincy leading the Alton River Dragons 10-7 and two outs in the top of the eighth on Friday and struck out pinch-hitter Bret Yarger. In the top of the ninth, Wilder retired the first two batters he faced before giving up back-to-back singles to bring the tying run to the plate.

The River Dragons’ rally ended there. Wilder fielded a ground ball off the bat of Matt Carrano and tossed to first baseman Brady Kindhart, who hit a three-run home run on Thursday, for the final out in a 10-7 Doggy Paddlers victory in front of a home crowd of 751 at QU Stadium.

The River Dragons tied the game at 5 with a five-run third inning, then the Doggy Paddlers responded with two runs in the bottom half — one on a Skylar Graham ground out and another on a Wandel Campana bases-loaded walk.

Quincy scored again on a Christopher Suchoski RBI single in the fourth and twice in the fifth to to take a 10-5 lead. Jayden Patel’s two-run single in the eighth made it a three-run game.

Jimmy Koza went 3 for 3 and scored three runs out of the leadoff spot for the Doggy Paddlers (1-3). Campana reached bases three times and had three RBIs, while Kindhart doubled and drove in two runs. Starting pitcher Patrick Wajda tossed six innings and gave up eight hits and five runs while striking out three and walking one to earn the victory.

Quincy will play road games against Alton on Saturday and Sunday before returning home to host the Burlington Bees on Tuesday.