By Brad Hallier
HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Hutchinson Monarchs, thanks to a strong second half of the season, will be playing in the NBC World Series this season.
Marc Blackim, who owns the team along with his wife Kim, announced on the team’s Facebook page Friday night that the team would play in the World Series at Wichita State’s Eck Stadium. The tournament begins Thursday.
The Sunflower Collegiate League gets three automatic bids to the World Series. As of Saturday morning, the Great Bend Bat Cats and Kansas Cannons had clinched two of the bids as the winners of the league’s first half (Great Bend) and second half (Cannons). The Monarchs (18-16) have the best league record after Great Bend and the Cannons, and the Monarchs also have the best second-half record after the Cannons.
The Monarchs, 19-17 overall, will play in the World Series for a fifth straight year and 12th time in the team’s 15 seasons.
The Monarchs are in Pool D, which includes the Hays Larks, the GPS (Texas) Legends and the Seattle Blackfins.
The Monarchs will be the feature game at 6 p.m. Friday against Hays. The Monarchs will also play Aug. 6 and Aug. 8, times to be determined.
The top three teams in each of the four pools will advance to the single-elimination round. The top teams in each pool receive a bye to the quarterfinals.
Schedule and ticket information can be found at https://nbcbaseball.com/.
