Postseason baseball is coming back to Wichita: Wind Surge clinch top seed in playoffs
In their inaugural season as a minor league baseball franchise, the Wichita Wind Surge have not only clinched a berth into the Double-A Central playoffs but also the No. 1 seed in the postseason.
The Wind Surge managed to accomplish both feats on the same night, courtesy of a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Arkansas Travelers at Riverfront Stadium on Thursday evening to improve their record on the season to 67-50. and ensure they finish first place in the final regular-season standings.
Now the only drama left in the final three days of the regular season is to see who Wichita will play in a best-of-5 series next week for the Double-A Central championship. The race still involves five teams — Frisco (63-53), Arkansas (63-54), Northwest Arkansas (62-54) and Tulsa (62-55) — separated by 1½ games.
Whichever MILB team snags the second spot in the playoffs will host the first two games of the championship series against Wichita on Tuesday, Sept. 21 and Wednesday, Sept. 22. The series will then shift to Wichita, where the Wind Surge could win a championship at Riverfront Stadium as soon as Friday, Sept. 24. If necessary, games will be played in Wichita on Saturday and Sunday of that weekend.
Wichita baseball fans can find out how to buy tickets to Wind Surge playoff games through the team’s website. The Wind Surge are Wichita’s return to affiliated baseball for the first time since 2007.
On Thursday, Ernie De La Trinidad provided the clutch, go-ahead hit in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 2-RBI single to put Wichita ahead 2-1. De La Trinidad later scored on an Arkansas error for a 3-1 lead, then Wichita’s bullpen shut the door following an impressive starting outing from Chris Vallimont, who allowed one earned run in 5⅔ innings.
There will be post-game fireworks following Friday’s 7 p.m. game at Riverfront Stadium, while the Wind Surge will complete the regular season and their series against Arkansas with a 6 p.m. Saturday game and a 1 p.m. Sunday game.
This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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