‘It should be a marriage’: Wind Surge, Wichita State baseball committed to partnership
After more than a year of waiting, baseball will finally be played in Wichita’s new $90 million downtown ballpark.
Instead of Wichita’s Double-A Minor League Baseball franchise, the Wind Surge, which will play their home opener on May 11, it will be the Wichita State baseball team playing Riverfront Stadium’s inaugural game at 2 p.m. Saturday against the Houston Cougars.
Limited tickets, starting at $15, are still available through the Wind Surge’s website. According to a team spokesperson, around 7,500 fans are expected in the 10,025-seat stadium on Saturday. Gates will open at 12:30 p.m. and masks will be mandatory.
“It’s been a long year for the Wind Surge and this community and I think everyone has been waiting and thirsting to get inside and we’re beyond thrilled to open Riverfront Stadium,” Wind Surge general manager Jared Forma said. “And there’s not a better partner than Wichita State and the Shocker baseball program led by Eric Wedge. They’re a first-class program and we have a first-class stadium, so it’s a perfect fit.”
Thanks to the vision of former manager Gene Stephenson, the WSU baseball program has a long history of playing in downtown Wichita. WSU first played at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in 1979 and ended up playing 70 games there with the last time coming in 2000.
After more than a two-decade hiatus, returning downtown to host a marquee game was a priority to Wedge when he accepted the job in 2019. It made even more sense considering Wedge’s long-time friendship with then-Wind Surge owner Lou Schwechheimer, who died last summer of COVID-19 complications. Their friendship dated back to 1991, when Wedge was a catcher for the Pawtucket Paw Sox and Schwechheimer was part of the team’s front office.
“Lou, God bless him, and I talked about that at the very beginning,” Wedge said. “When you talk about Wichita State University and when you talk about having an association with the professional ball club in the same city, it should be a marriage. It’s something that we hope we can build upon as we work from year to year.”
According to Wedge, WSU hopes to make it an annual tradition of playing an anticipated nonconference game — likely against a regional rival from the Big 12 — at Riverfront Stadium, much like how the men’s basketball team plays at Intrust Bank Arena each season.
WSU athletic director Darron Boatright told The Eagle that he thinks it can be a mutually beneficial relationship.
“First, this is a fabulous opportunity that the Wind Surge have given us to be the first event in the stadium’s history,” Boatright said. “We’re very excited about that. But we’re also very excited for another opportunity to partner with the city of Wichita and the county to provide quality sports entertainment for the city. That’s why we like to partner with Intrust and we hope to do the same thing moving forward with the Wind Surge and Riverfront Stadium.”
While it may not be against a historical rival like Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, the Shockers’ showdown against Houston on Saturday does qualify as an important game on WSU’s schedule.
After taking three of four against the Cougars on the road in the first American Athletic Conference series of the season, WSU (15-9, 3-1 AAC) will be looking for another series win against a team in Houston (13-14, 1-3 AAC) that was picked to finish one spot ahead of them in the preseason coaches’ poll. With an RPI ranking of 59, the Shockers are also looking to strengthen their case to be an NCAA Regional team come May.
Wedge thinks the Shockers will have a big crowd on their side on Saturday.
“I think people are ready to turn a page,” Wedge said. “They’re ready to get back out there and get into the spring and the summer and watch some baseball again. We’re excited to be a part of it.”
From the Wind Surge perspective, the front office hopes WSU fans and Wichita baseball fans are impressed by the experience of Saturday’s game and will return to the ballpark this spring and summer to support the Double-A franchise in its first season in Wichita.
“We know how bad the community wants to have some public events and get back out there to some form of normalcy again,” Forma said. “We hope we can provide as much normalcy as possible. We’re excited for Wichita State fans, Wind Surge fans and the great people of Wichita to be able to experience the new stadium and have a great time watching some baseball.”
This story was originally published April 8, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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