WINNIPEG – After an excruciatingly long bus ride the Winnipeg Goldeyes pulled into Wichita, Kansas in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday.
The Goldeyes are chasing their fourth league title in franchise history with game one of the championship series against the Wingnuts set for Wednesday.
“Got a good night sleep last night so the boys are ready to roll,” Goldeyes outfielder Josh Romanski said from Wichita.
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After a dramatic series win in their last at bat against the Lincoln Saltdogs the Goldeyes will face an even stiffer test against Wichita. The Goldeyes won five of their nine regular season meetings but the Wingnuts had 61 wins, just one less than the league leading Fish. The Wingnuts are appearing in the championship for the fifth time in the last six years, but only have one title to show for it with that one coming in 2014.
“I think we match-up well against anyone but we’re familiar with their team,” Romanski said. “They got a lot of the same guys they had last year.”
The final is a rematch of last year’s championship series as the Goldeyes try to win back to back titles for the first time ever. They also beat the Wingnuts to win the crown in 2012.
“I’m sure that’s one of the things on their mind but we have a really good club over here,” said Romanski. “It’s just going to be about who plays the better baseball and I’m sure that’s what they’re focused more on.”
But the one big difference between the Goldeyes last two finals appearances and this one, is the fact they’ll play the final three games of the series if necessary at Shaw Park. So they’ll have a chance to win a championship on home field for the first time since 1994.
“That’s probably what I’m most excited about,” Romanski said.
“Last year was obviously awesome winning it in general, but the crowd was great there on Sunday night for game four and they really made a difference at the end of the game for us.”
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The Goldeyes practiced at Lawrence Dumont Stadium on Tuesday on the eve of game one. They’ll be sending Charle Rosario to the mound for the series opener after he won his only start in the first round of the playoffs. Edwin Carl is scheduled to start game two for Winnipeg while Kevin McGovern will get the call for game three.
After the first two games in Wichita the series returns to Winnipeg for game three on Saturday.
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