Travis Whitmore’s day began on the bench.It ended with his teammates mobbing him between first and second base.
FORT WAYNE – Fort Wayne played its final regular-season home game Friday.
Time will tell if it’s the TinCaps’ last home game of the year.
Fort Wayne held serve in its push for the playoffs, knocking off South Bend 12-0 in front of 8,050 fans at Parkview Field.
West Michigan defeated Lake County 3-0 to remain tied with the TinCaps for the Eastern Division’s final playoff spot.
That sets up a winner-take-all three-game series between the TinCaps (37-30, 67-69 overall) and Whitecaps (37-30, 69-67) starting today in Comstock Park, Mich.
The team that wins two games advances to meet Bowling Green in the first round of the playoffs, scheduled to start Wednesday. West Michigan has a 10-9 edge in the season series.
“It’s a playoff,” TinCaps manager Shawn Wooten said of the final regular-season series. “It’s an early playoff.”
If Friday was the home finale, the TinCaps went out swinging. They collected a season-high 21 hits and every batter had at least one hit.
“This is what I’ve been seeing all the way up until about a week ago. The guys were playing relaxed,” Wooten said. “They swung the bats really well. They didn’t put pressure on themselves to try to do too much. We had some good situational hitting.
“That’s what we’ve done the whole second half to put ourselves in this position.”
Mike Gallic had four hits, and Cory Spangenberg, Rocky Gale and Connor Powers had three hits.
Fort Wayne sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run fourth inning. The TinCaps had nine hits in the inning, all singles. Chris Bisson had a two-run single to start the rally.
In the sixth, the TinCaps scored four runs with all nine batters coming to the plate.
“The fans got to see it all tonight,” Bisson said. “It’s a perfect wrap-up to the season. A shutout, 21 hits, everybody had a good game.
“It’s just good for everybody.”
Mark Hardy benefited from the offensive outburst. He gave up three hits in seven innings.
“I was just trying to get ahead of the guys and throw pitches for strikes,” Hardy said.
“Me and (catcher) Rocky (Gale) were on the same page. I was just mixing up all four of my pitches and trying to throw strikes.”
Can the TinCaps continue the momentum at West Michigan?
“It’s all on the line. Everyone wants to see the playoffs,” Bisson said.
“… We just have to be us, like (Friday). This was a perfect example of what the Fort Wayne TinCaps can do. That’s all we have to do, carry it over.”
Notes: Here are the pitching matchups for the series (Fort Wayne first): Today: Matt Jackson (4-1, 1.99 ERA) vs. Brian Stroud (0-2, 7.07); Sunday: Zach Cates (4-9, 4.69) vs. Kevin Eichhorn (10-5, 3.63) Monday: Dennis O’Grady (4-2, 4.53) vs. Alex Burgos (6-4, 2.05). … Friday was the 22nd sellout of the season. The TinCaps had a regular-season attendance of 376,022 (5,612 per game).
