Wild Things begin conference finals at Evansville
They were the top two teams all season in the Frontier League’s best division. So it is not a surprise that the Wild Things and Evansville Otters will be playing in the best-of-5 Midwest Conference finals that begin tonight at historic Bosse Field.
The Wild Things moved ahead of Evansville and into sole possession of first place in the Central Division all the way back on May 29 and remained there for the final 100 days of the regular season.
Shaking Evansville, however, was not easy. The Otters stayed within no more than three games of the Wild Things for more than a month before a Washington surge pushed the gap to a season-high eight games on Aug. 8. Evansville managed to whittle the margin to a mere two games on Aug. 23 before Washington pulled away and won the division title by 4½ games.
The teams will start even in this series, with the Wild Things having home-field advantage. Games 1 and 2 will be played in Evansville (7:35 p.m.) tonight and Wednesday. Washington will host Game 3 Friday (7:05 p.m.). Games 4 and 5, if necessary, will be Saturday (7:05 p.m.) and Sunday (4:05 p.m.).
Evansville advanced the hard way in the best-of-3 wild-card round. The Otters lost Game 1 at home to West Division champion Schaumburg, then won the next two games on the road. Washington, meanwhile, made it hard on itself. After winning Game 1 at Florence, the Wild Things outhit the Y’alls 11-4 in Game 2 at home but lost, 6-5. Washington then squandered a seven-run lead in Game 3 before scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth to rally and eliminate Florence 9-8 on Sunday. The Wild Things won when Cole Fowler hit a ball off the wall in right centerfield with the bases loaded.
Washington was the only division champion to advance to the conference finals as Schaumburg, four-time defending league champion Quebec and New Jersey each were eliminated. That alone could put Washington in the role of playoff favorite, but that’s something Wild Things manager Tom Vaeth doesn’t want to hear.
“Everybody is good at this point of the year,” Vaeth said. “There were times this year when we didn’t play like a defending (division) champion, but we grinded it out.”
Washington and Evansville split 12 games during the regular season. They went 3-3 at Bosse Field. All of those games were played before the all-star break. They also split six games at EQT Park with each being played in August. All three Wild Things wins in Washington were via shutout.
“I think what wins in the playoffs is pitching,” Evansville manager Andy McCauley told the Observer-Reporter last month.
Evansville was second in the 18-team league in hitting with a .300 batting average but lost a power bat in the middle of its lineup when third baseman Marcos Gonzalez suffered a season-ending injury late in the year.
Washington did not announce a starting pitcher for Game 1. Zach Kirby, who started Game 1 against Florence, pitched in relief Sunday. Rookie Drew Stegura (3-0, 4.50) did not pitch in the Florence series. He tossed seven shutout innings against Evansville on Aug. 20.