Champion City, which led the East Division entering Friday, finished 1.5 games back to finish the second half of the season tied for second. That’s the highest division finish for the Kings in team history.
The Kings also set team records for overall wins in a season (27-33) and wins in a half (16-14, second half).
The Kings went 21-39 in 2014 and 24-35 last season.
Manager Rick White expects even better things next season for a team that stormed into playoff contention by winning eight of 10 games prior to the season-ending three-game setback.
“I think it makes it easier when I talk to college coaches and they see we have a winning program,” White said of recruiting players. “We have a lot of guys who are eligible to come back and want to come back. That’s going to make it a lot better, too. Winning makes things a lot easier. People are really starting to talk about the Kings now. Our attendance is growing daily. We just look for a lot of positive things for the future.”
An announced crowd of 1,001 attended Friday’s final home game at Carleton Davidson Stadium. Champion City fell to Butler 8-6.
On Saturday, Champion City traveled to Butler for a pair of seven-inning games.
In the first game Butler led 3-0 after the first inning and 9-0 after four. The Kings rallied with six runs over the final three innings before falling short 9-6.
In the second game Champion City tied Butler 1-1 in the fourth inning. The Bluesox added two runs in the bottom of the inning for the 3-1 lead. Champion City scored a run in the top of the seventh before falling 3-2.
West Virginia won both the first and second half titles in the East Division. In that scenario, the team with the second-best record overall earns the second playoff spot. The Kokomo Jackrabbits finished 31-29 overall to advance.
Champion City struggled in the first half with an 11-19 record.
“We started off the first half without all of our players here. We finally got everyone here and finally started going,” White said of the second-half surge. “This is what we expected to see the whole year. I think the fans like it and as long we keep a winning product here it’ll keep growing. It’s just huge for the community.
“When I’m out and about I hear a lot more talk. That’s good because the first couple years I was like, ‘Man, people don’t even know we’re here.’ Things are picking up. The next couple years we’re looking for big things.”
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