Travis Whitmore’s day began on the bench.It ended with his teammates mobbing him between first and second base.Fort Wayne coaches approached Keyvius Sampson a couple of days before the regular-season finale at West Michigan. They wanted to know that if it came down to a win-or-go-home scenario against the Whitecaps, could Sampson go on short rest.
Sampson told them “give me the ball and I’ll go out there and do what I can.”
Sampson went out and had one of his best starts of the season, pitching the TinCaps into the playoffs with a 7-2 victory Monday at West Michigan.
Fort Wayne continued to roll in the postseason, winning its first-round series against Bowling Green 2-0. With the sweep, the TinCaps advanced to the Eastern Division championship series for the second time in three years. Fort Wayne begins the best-of-three series against Lansing, which defeated Dayton 4-3 Saturday to win its series 2-1, at 5:05 p.m. today at Parkview Field.
Sampson will be on the mound for Fort Wayne.
The right-hander showed his strong makeup, bouncing back from a rough outing against South Bend (six runs in 2 1/3 innings Aug. 31) to shut down the Whitecaps. He gave up one run on five hits in six innings.
“I was happy for him,” Fort Wayne manager Shawn Wooten said. “As good as he’s been all year, (South Bend) could have been his last game of the season. He’s pitched a lot better than that last game. And then he gets the opportunity against West Michigan.”
Sampson struck out eight of the first 11 batters he faced.
“The South Bend outing wasn’t very good. I was glad I did it before the playoffs. It put everything back in perspective for me. This is a game. It doesn’t always bounce the way you want it to bounce,” Sampson said. “I was just happy to go out there and get the win at West Michigan for my team so we could get in the playoffs and get to this point right now.”
He improved to 12-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.90.
“I’ve just become more of a pitcher,” Sampson said of his season. “I’m mixing it up a lot, throw my changeup in different counts. With (pitching coach) Willie (Blair) and Woot helping me, they’ve been up there at that level, they’ve been able to teach me when to throw certain pitches.”
Sampson’s comeback performance mirrored Fort Wayne’s this season.
The TinCaps started the second half with a 2-7 record after losing at West Michigan on July 2. They had an overall record of 32-46. The team finished the half 39-31. With the two playoff victories, Fort Wayne is 71-70 overall.
“It’s remarkable if you think about it in terms of where we were at,” Wooten said. “We were 14 games under .500 at one point. Now with the two games (against Bowling Green) we are one game above. It goes back to the players. They go out, do the work, enjoy each other’s company. They have fun playing the game.”
Wooten said defense sparked the turnaround. He pointed to B.J. Guinn’s improvements at shortstop and Rico Noel’s play in center field as crucial to the success.
“It’s fun to watch,” Wooten said. “From top to bottom, it takes 25 guys at any level for a team to do what we’re doing. Those 25 guys are putting in the effort, and they are doing it. Regardless of what happens, it’s a huge turnaround for these kids and something to be proud of.”
Note: Zach Cates is the starting pitcher for Fort Wayne in Game 2. Matt Jackson is the scheduled starting pitcher for Game 3, if necessary.
