Sep 4, 2017 3 min read

Wild Things Park will be the site of more Frontier League playoff games this week than it has hosted in the past nine years.

Third-seeded Washington will host the West Division champion Florence Freedom tonight (7:05 p.m.) in Game 1 of a best-of-5 semifinal series. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Washington and the series moves to Florence, Ky., Friday night.

The Wild Things are in the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and have hosted only one playoff game since the championship series against Windy City in 2007. After winning a wild-card playoff game at Evansville in 2014, Washington hosted River City in the opening game of a best-of-3 semifinal series and lost 2-1 in 12 innings.

Washington (53-43) played some of its best baseball late in the regular season to secure a wild-card playoff berth. The Wild Things won seven of their final eight games and 13 of 19.

Florence (61-35) dominated the West Division from the outset, winning its first eight games and had a 30-12 record at one point. The Freedom had a nine-game winning streak in August and won its final four games of the regular season.

Florence won the season series with Washington 4-2, winning twice on each team’s home field. The teams have not met since June 11.

Washington clinched its playoff berth Saturday night and was able to set its pitching rotation for the playoffs. Trevor Foss (12-5, 3.06) is expected to start Game 1. Foss led the league in wins. Florence has listed Jordan Kraus (10-5, 3.27) as its starting pitcher. Kraus is in his fourth year of professional baseball after playing his college ball at Wheeling Jesuit.

To win the series, Washington must pitch better than it did against Florence during the regular season, when it gave up 42 runs in six games. Third baseman Jose Brizuela drove in 11 of those runs for the Freedom but he had his contract purchased by the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in early August.

First baseman Jordan Brower leads Florence with a .335 batting average and 63 RBI.

Washington’s offense has been paced all season by left fielder Bralin Jackson and first baseman Kane Sweeney. Jackson batted .294 with 16 home runs and was second in the league with 76 RBI. Sweeney led the league in walks (88) and on-base percentage (.457).

Outfielder James Harris, a former first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, was a big reason for the Wild Things’ late-season charge to the playoffs. He has batted .330 since Aug. 9. Harris was named the Frontier League Player of the Week Monday after batting .500 (13-for-26) with three doubles, a triple, home run, eight RBI and three stolen bases. Harris knows a little about winning in the postseason as he helped the Midland RockHounds, an Oakland Athletics affiliate, to the Class AA Texas League title last year.

East Division winner Schaumburg will play defending league champion Evansville in the other semifinal series. … The best-of-5 championship series begins Sept. 12 on the home field of the higher seed. … Florence was second in the league in both team batting average (.280) and team ERA (3.77). … Washington right fielder Hector Roa tied for the league lead with seven triples.