Win for Lou: Wichita Wind Surge find their rallying cry for baseball playoff push
A division championship and spot in the Double-A Central playoffs will be on the line this week in the six-game series hosted by the Wichita Wind Surge against the Arkansas Travelers at Riverfront Stadium.
After spending nearly the entire summer in first place, the Wind Surge have afforded themselves a three-game cushion over Arkansas — meaning Wichita needs to win just two games this week at home to clinch a postseason berth.
Wichita manager Ramon Borrego was uninterested in the bare minimum before Tuesday’s series-opener.
“I want to win all six games,” Borrego said, pausing for just a moment. “I want to win nine games. I want the six this week, then three next week. We know what we need to do, but I want those guys to think about winning every game. We’re going to take it game by game.”
The three next week would come in the Double-A Central playoffs, where the top two teams in the league — regardless of division — will play a best-of-five series beginning next Tuesday. Wichita also has a three-game lead on the top seed in the league and if it clinches this week, then Riverfront Stadium could potentially host championship baseball games next weekend.
Winning a title in Wichita’s first season with affiliated baseball in 14 years would be special. Borrego said he’s more motivated to win for late owner Lou Schwechheimer, whose vision helped bring affiliated baseball back to Wichita and helped bring about the new, $75 million downtown ballpark. Schwechheimer tragically passed away last summer to COVID-19, before he could see his new team play its first game.
“We want to win in this new stadium for Wichita, but we also want to do our best for Lou and his family,” Borrego said. “We wouldn’t be here right now without him. We really want to win for him and make him proud. I can’t even imagine what it would be like if Lou was here to see this.”
While Wichita has had to deal with its fair share of movement with promotions taking away some of the team’s most productive players, the Wind Surge have been able to maintain an identity of being a solid team in all aspects of the game.
The Wind Surge rank first league-wide in strikeouts (1,161 or a little more than 1.1 per inning) and are second in batting average and third in home runs. They have proven their ability to win pitcher’s duels and shootouts, making them a difficult team to beat.
“We have to do all of the little things now,” Borrego said. “We’re getting to the point where the intensity is going to be really high. We’re in the spot we want to be. So now we have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Everything is right there. We just need to stay focused on what each one of us can do to help the team win.”
The Wind Surge will wrap up their final homestand against Arkansas with 7 p.m. games on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with a 6 p.m. Saturday game and 1 p.m. Sunday regular-season finale. Tickets can be purchased through the Wind Surge website.
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