Mavericks bounce back to split series with Giants
By RYAN MCCRACKEN on June 10, 2019.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Mavericks shook off back-to-back losses and rallied to split their four-game set with the Fort McMurray Giants at Shell Place following a 9-4 win Saturday and a 7-4 victory Sunday.
After dropping the first two games of the series, Mavericks head coach Tom Vessella said rebounding to close out the road trip on a pair of wins would speak volumes about the character of the ball club, not to mention the fact it would make for much nicer bus ride home.
“It’s incredibly nice, especially with this 10-hour bus ride we’ve got going back” said Vessella. “You’ve got to win on getaway day, that’s just a fact.”
While the Mavericks fell into an early hole Sunday on Peyton Crispin’s second-inning RBI single, they put up a pair in the third, then repeated the feat in the fifth to take over the lead.
The Giants pushed back with one run in the bottom of the fifth, then two more in the seventh to tie the game up, but Medicine Hat struck for three unearned runs in the top of the ninth to seal the victory and head home with a 4-2 record on their road trip.
“We played baseball the right way,” said Vessella. “Fort Mac had a little bit of trouble defensively but we took advantage of it and came home with a win.”
Austin Sojka led Sunday’s push with 2 RBI in a 2-for-3 effort – the lone Maverick to log a pair of base knocks in the victory.
“He took what they gave him and that’s, I think, the most impressive thing about him when he’s at the plate,” said Vessella. “He didn’t need to do too much. I needed an RBI and he sat back, got a sac fly to give us a big run. Every run counted today.”
Hunter Cooper collected the relief victory after taking over for starter Garrett Nicholson to start the seventh and holding Fort McMurray to two runs on as many hits and a walk through two complete frames. John Rains collected his second save with a clean ninth.
Fort Mac’s Tucker Sorenson settled for the loss after allowing one run without a hit through three innings of relief work. Starter Jordan Williams left after allowing four runs on four hits through five frames.
Crispin was the only Giant with two hits Sunday, while Brody McGrath had 2 RBI from the leadoff spot.
The Mavericks turned around their small two-game slide with Saturday’s win in Fort Mac, led by 2 RBI performances from Sal Rodriguez and Sojka and a 3-for-5 outing from Colton Wright.
Evan Sutta earned Saturday’s bounce-back win – his first of the season – after holding Fort McMurray to three runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking just two through seven solid innings of work.
“This is the second time through the rotation and guys are going a little deeper into the game,” said Vessella. “It just kind of changes all of our options when it comes to the bullpen. I’m really happy with how our starters went deep. For the first three games we only used one guy out of the pen.”
Flynn Ridley took the hill to start the eighth and held the Giants to one run on a hit and a walk over the final two frames to collect the save.
Giants starter Tyler Hodder was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk through the first three innings. Fort McMurray leaned on five pitchers in the loss, none throwing more than three frames.
Cam Sanderson led the Giants with 2 RBI in the loss, while Richard Ortiz, Guner Rainey and Eric Meyer all had two hits on the evening.
The Mavericks return to Athletic Park to host the Giants Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.
“It’s so early in the season but right now every game is important and we’re going to play to win every baseball game,” said Vessella. “If we beat them again on Tuesday, we’ve just won a series.”
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