It only takes a quick look at the Frontier League team statistics to figure out what has been the Washington Wild Things' bugaboo this season.

The Wild Things, owning a 34-39 record before last night's game with fading hopes of making the playoffs, are third in the 12-team independent minor league in runs scored (445) and second in home runs (103), but their pitching has been less than scintillating. They rank next to last in ERA at 5.78 and last in walks allowed with 336.

Trinity High School graduate Michael Lucas, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound right-handed relief specialist, has been one of the few pitching bright spots for Washington this season.

He has the Wild Things' lowest ERA at 3.09, while tied for second on the club in pitching appearances with 27. Lucas owns a 1-2 record, allowing just 37 hits in 432/3 innings, walking 18 and striking out 29. Opponents are hitting just .228 against him.

"He's been dependable out of the bullpen, eating up innings," Washington manager Mark Mason said. "He gets ahead early in the count, doesn't fall behind, and that gives him an advantage. He throws strike one."

This is the first season Lucas has seen action with the Wild Things, but it is actually his second go-round with the club.

Last year, he was with Washington for a handful of games, but had no relief appearances when the Chicago White Sox signed him as a free agent and assigned him to their Bristol (Va.) farm team.

Getting to play affiliated minor-league ball, as opposed to being in an independent league, was an opportunity Lucas couldn't afford to pass up.

He had posted a fine 7-2 record for Xavier University as a senior starting pitcher in the spring of 2008, but Lucas found success hard to come by with Bristol, a short-season rookie team that plays in the Appalachian League.

He made 10 relief appearances for Bristol, tossing 22 innings, striking out 18 and finishing with a 1-2 record and a 6.14 ERA. The White Sox released Lucas this past December.

"At Bristol, I woke up thinking about baseball and that's all I thought about the entire day," said Lucas, 24. "I was always thinking 'What can I do to make the White Sox notice me?'

"I was stressed and it wasn't the White Sox that put stress on me. It was myself. I was worried about doing this and doing that. I never just played."

Lucas said heading into this season he "made a promise" to himself to try to enjoy the experience of playing for the Wild Things.

"When you make it simple, it's not that difficult a game," said Lucas. "I'm actually surprised at how easy it is when you simplify it.

"I'm just going out there thinking 'You might hit me, you might not.' So far, I've come out on top more."

Lucas said on afternoons before night games he's often "hanging out with his dog or watching television." Baseball is no longer consuming him.

Lucas has been used in long relief and short relief for the Wild Things this season. He throws a fastball (88 to 91 mph), a slider and an occasional changeup.

At Xavier, Lucas was a starting pitcher all four years, making 66 career appearances, 58 of them starts.

He said moving to the bullpen as a professional took some adjusting, but that he now thoroughly enjoys the role.

"Each day you prepare to play," said Lucas. "It's more like being a position player. You go into every game knowing you could be throwing, you have butterflies."

Performing well and finding his niche as a relief pitcher aren't the only reasons Lucas is having "a great time" as a member of the Washington Wild Things this summer.

There is also the hometown factor.

Lucas, a fine arts major at Xavier, is from North Franklin, just outside of Washington. His parents' house is just five minutes from Consol Energy Park, the Wild Things home field. When he played baseball at Trinity, the Hillers used that field for their home games.

Now, Lucas gets to play at there as a professional in front of his parents, Sharon and Andrew (a chiropractor) as well as lots of other relatives, friends and former teachers.

The Wild Things reliever said he's well aware of just how lucky he is to be able to play for an independent minor league baseball team located just a few miles down the road from where he grew up.

He also feels fortunate for an enjoyable second season of professional baseball.