Wingnuts Win Season Finale, But Miss Playoffs by One

WICHITA, KS- The Wichita Wingnuts won 4-2 over the El Paso Diablos at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Sunday evening.

Although the Wingnuts finished the regular season on a high note, by virtue of Sioux Falls' victory over the St. Paul Saints, Wichita falls one game short of first place in the second half while also finishing one game back of Lincoln who heads to the postseason via the wild card.

Adam Cowart led the Wingnuts with seven strong innings to earn the win and finish the season 7-7.  Cowart allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits while striking out five and walking none.  The Diablos rallied in the top of the second, putting runners on first and third with no outs, but Cowart struck out J.D. Reininger and Jeff Hulett back-to-back.  Cowart then retired Adam Deleo on a groundout to third to keep the game scoreless.

Ryan Patterson drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the third and advanced to second on a hit-and-run groundball from Cesar Suarez.  Jorge Cortes pulled a singled to deep right field that scored Patterson to give Wichita a 1-0 lead.  Patterson became the first Wingnuts player to appear in 96 gmes in a season.

After the Diablos tied the game with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, Michael Bell hit a lined drive, two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to give the Wingnuts the lead for good.

The Diablos sliced the lead again on an RBI single from Jeff Vincent in the top of the fifth, but Patterson scored on a sacrifice fly by Cortes in the bottom half for the final run of the game.

Dustin Pease set a new league record with his 54th appearance, recording the final two outs in the eighth to strand the tying runs on base.  Dustin Cameron worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 19th save.

-Wingnuts-