Wingnuts clinch playoff spot

Winning division championships has become old hat for the Wingnuts by now, so on Saturday night they mixed in a few unprecedented accomplishments.

In clinching their fifth straight division title with a 21-1 win over Grand Prairie at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, the Wingnuts set franchise records for single-game runs and margin of victory while handing Grand Prairie its American Association-record 15th consecutive loss.

Wichita scored five runs in four straight innings and six players batted in five innings in a row. Taylor Smart, whose three hits raised his average to .189, tied the team record with five runs.

“I heard that that’s the most the Wingnuts have ever scored, so there’s something to be said for that,” Wichita third baseman T.J. Mittelstaedt said. “We put up five in four straight innings – that’s almost impossible. In one or two of the innings we had two outs and we scored four.”

The Wingnuts have followed their 73-win regular season, which preceded a 2014 league championship, with a more difficult, trying season.

Last year, Wichita clinched a playoff spot with plenty of room to spare. This year, wrapping up the division with two games to play might be unsatisfying for a team so used to success, but the Wingnuts aren’t scoffing at a well-earned postseason berth.

“Some of the guys were like, ‘Man, sorry it took so long.’ We’re used to wrapping it up a little before this,” Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper said. “It doesn’t matter. It can go down to the last day as long as we get in.”

Of Saturday’s nine starting position players, T.J. Mittelstaedt and Brent Dean were the only ones with the Wingnuts at the beginning of the season. Wichita has sent a league-high five players to affiliated ball, and several transactions were made in trying to improve an often-stagnant offense.

Wichita’s .270 team batting average before Saturday was lower than the league average. For most of the year, the Wingnuts couldn’t make up for that with power – even their most lopsided wins were highlighted by strings of singles and were often followed by more meager affairs.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Mittelstaedt said. “We’ve had a lot of guys in and out, signing elsewhere, getting new guys in and making sure they’re comfortable. The guys that we got in with about 25 games left – with this team right here we can definitely make a push.

“Being here through the whole year, seeing guys come and go, we just keep filling it back up with good players.”

The Wingnuts have addressed their hitting woes – and then some – with final-month additions of Andy LaRoche and Brent Clevlen, both former major-leaguers, and high-wire leadoff man Nick Van Stratten.

Clevlen and Van Stratten are both batting better than .400 in limited time and LaRoche has six home runs in 22 games. Van Stratten had six RBIs on Saturday, Clevlen four and LaRoche two as the trio combined for eight hits.

“Three stars, I think. They change the whole dynamic,” Hooper said. “(Clevlen) is locked in right now, (Van Stratten), too. To add him to the top of the order to set the table for us, four or five times out of 10 he’s going to be on first base right away. That’s going to give you a chance, and he can really run.”

The Wingnuts have shown that clinching a playoff bid at any point in the season can be impactful. They’re not picky, but the benefits of a 21-run night may still be in play when the playoffs begin on the road – at either Joplin or Laredo – on Wednesday.

“We’ve had to battle the whole year,” Mittelstaedt said. “If we can take the next two, we’re riding high going into the playoffs ready to go. …Record aside, we’re definitely ready for the playoffs.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Wingnuts clinch playoff spot."