Trailing 2-0, Wingnuts need three-day rally to remain in American Association playoffs

The Wingnuts are a dichotomy of postseason baseball clichés.

Their backs are against the wall, trailing Laredo 2-0 in a best-of-five American Association first-round series. But for the remaining three games, the Wingnuts will be sleeping in their own beds.

If the comfort of home – Games 3-5 are scheduled for Lawrence-Dumont Stadium – outweighs the dominance Laredo displayed during two games in Texas, the Wingnuts’ season may last beyond the weekend.

In six playoff appearances, the Wingnuts have never trailed 2-0. They already exhausted their two best pitchers, Scott Richmond and Jon Link, while supporting them with four total runs.

“We’ve got an uphill battle, that’s for sure,” Wingnuts manager Kevin Hooper said. “But I believe, for sure, that we can get it done. It’s winning three games in a row, literally taking one at a time. I need the 23 (players) to believe, that’s going to be the key. If we can get the 23 to believe, it’s doable. We’ve still got life.”

Laredo owns arguably the league’s best offense, especially after late-season acquisitions fortified the Lemurs’ lineup. They lived up to that reputation with 16 runs and a .323 batting average in their two wins.

It wasn’t as expected for Laredo’s pitching to match its offense. Greg Garcia and Matt Sergey, a journeyman who hasn’t allowed an earned run in four 2015 starts, held Wichita to a .194 average and four runs.

Greg Holle, who has a 2.00 ERA in 14 starts, is Laredo’s scheduled Game 3 starter, opposing Tim Brown.

“I know their bullpen is really good, but I thought we had a shot against their starting pitching,” Hooper said. “Offensively, we’ve been very average, like we have been a lot all year. We haven’t hit either night, for whatever reason.”

Richmond and Link both pitched well but were burned by a lack of run support and a leaky bullpen. Richmond will likely start Game 5, but the Wingnuts have to get there first.

Brown is a reasonably safe bet to get the Wingnuts to Sunday, but Game 4 starter Jason Van Skike has a 6.26 ERA since August 1 and most recently lost to Grand Prairie, snapping Grand Prairie’s league-record 15-game losing streak.

The Wingnuts opted for three home games rather than starting the series at home, and Hooper is comforted by that decision.

“My thought process was go on the road and hopefully for sure win one of those two with (Link and Richmond) going, if not sweep,” Hooper said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t end up winning either one of them.

“But now you’re in a situation where if that does backfire, like it did, you are back home, where you more than likely have a little bit better chance than you do on the road.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Trailing 2-0, Wingnuts need three-day rally to remain in American Association playoffs."