Wingnuts announce 2011 schedule

{WICHITA, Kan.) — The Wichita Wingnuts announced their 2011 regular season schedule on Monday.

A copy of the schedule with all home start times is attached.

The American Association now features a 100-game continuous schedule and a total of 14 teams with the recent addition of the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, Gary SouthShore RailCats, Kansas City T-Bones, and Winnipeg Goldeyes.  Last week, the league also announced Pensacola will transfer operations to Amarillo, TX in time for 2011.

Nine different teams make the trip to Lawrence-Dumont Stadium this summer, including four that Wingnuts' fans have never seen.  Wichita has at least one road series scheduled against each of the league's 13 other clubs.

Season four of Wingnuts baseball kicks off on Thursday, May 12th with a four-game road series at Amarillo.  13 of the Wingnuts' first 16 games are on the road, including the team's first trip to Gary, IN on May 23rd.

The Wingnuts' 2011 home opener is Friday, May 20th versus the El Paso Diablos at 7:05 p.m.  Wichita enjoys five homestands of six or more games during June and July.  On Friday, June 3rd, the Wingnuts play their inaugural series against the Kansas City T-Bones.  The three-game set is the first of 14 head-to-head meetings against Wichita's newest rival.  The battle for in-state bragging rights also takes place in Wichita on the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 28th of July, as well as August 16th-18th.  The Wingnuts visit Community America Ballpark, home of the T-Bones, July 3rd, 4th, 29th, and 30th.

The defending champion Shreveport-Bossier Captains are in town June 13th-15th and July 10th-13th.  Longtime division rivals Sioux City (June 10th-12th) and Lincoln (July 7th-9th) each make one trip to Wichita.

Fargo-Moorhead and Gary visit Lawrence-Dumont Stadium for the first time this summer.  The RedHawks are in town July 25th-27th while the RailCats visit August 19th-21st.  The Wingnuts also travel to Fargo in early-August.  Wichita's lone series against Winnipeg takes place at Canwest Park in Manitoba in mid-August.  The road series against the RedHawks and Goldeyes take place during the Wingnuts' five-city, 15-game road trip from July 29th-August 14th while the 77th annual NBC World Series takes place at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.

Wichita returns home from the long trip for a 10-game homestand, culminating with the team's final regular season home game on Friday, August 26th versus Amarillo.  The Wingnuts then play four games at El Paso from August 27th-30th, marking the first time in their history that the regular season ends on the road.

Game times at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium remain constant for 2011 (7:05 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 5:05 p.m. on Sundays) with three exceptions:
Friday, June 3rd versus Kansas City - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday, June 11th versus Sioux City - 6:05 p.m.
Wednesday, June 29th versus El Paso - 12:05 p.m.