Wingnuts return home looking to reclaim control of playoff series

Although their 10-game winning streak came to an end in Laredo, Texas, the Wichita Wingnuts were content to earn a split in their divisional round series of the American Association playoffs.

The best-of-five series now shifts to Wichita, starting Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. That’s good news for the Wingnuts, who compiled a 39-12 home record and have won their last 10 games at home.

“It pretty much turns into a three-game series,” Wichita manager Kevin Hooper said. “It’s really like a Game 1 again, at least that’s the way that I look at it. It’s a pivotal game.”

Hooper will entrust Jason Van Skike on the mound. Van Skike was dominant in the first half of the season, earning the starting nod in the All-Star game, and enters with a 12-5 record and 3.35 ERA.

Van Skike’s last two starts of the regular season came against Laredo. Facing the same team three times in 15 days is not ideal, Van Skike says, but it will not affect his mindset.

“They know me and I know them,” Van Skike said. “As a staff, it’s important for us to keep (Laredo) in check. I want to let the guys behind me get back in the dugout, where I know they’re going to be putting up some runs.”

The best offense in the league that helped Wichita compile 73 wins this season was unusually quiet in 3-2 loss to Laredo on Thursday. The Wingnuts scored two runs in the seventh inning on a home run by Carlo Testa, but outside of that produced just five hits.

Hooper mentioned that he thought the hitters looked a bit lethargic to start both playoff games, but the players are not concerned about the dip entering Saturday.

“That’s just playoff baseball,” Wichita shortstop Ryan Khoury said. “You’re not going to see the 15-13 scores that we saw in the regular season. We’re not going to score 10 runs every game, but we know we have the potential to do that and we’ve just got to keep our bats going and getting guys on base and driving them in.”

The stakes are raised for Game 3, as the winner will have a definite edge in the series. Wichita knows how crucial that advantage could become at home, as it would have two games in front of its home crowd to take care of business.

It’s a good position to be in, but none of the players are ready to feel content until after a victory is secured.

And even then, they’re not willing to look past anyone.

“We just think of it as the next game, really,” Khoury said. “Throughout the season and throughout these playoffs, we’ve only talked about winning the next game. Obviously this one is a little bit more important, but we’re just concentrated on one game at a time.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2014 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Wingnuts return home looking to reclaim control of playoff series."