NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks shortstop Adrian Salazar runs to third base during the Mavericks game against the Regina Red Sox Saturday night at Athletic Park. The Mavericks lost 6-5.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks could not get the job done Saturday night.
The Mavericks led the Regina Red Sox 5-3 heading into the eighth inning before they allowed three to lose 6-5 at Athletic Park.
Medicine Hat head coach Tyler Jeske said the Mavericks didn’t capitalize on the opportunities in front of them to put away the Red Sox earlier.
“I have a saying, don’t poke the bear, be the bear and maul somebody and today, we poked the bear,” Jeske said. “We poked, we threw jabs and we didn’t capitalize on the opportunity to throw the knockout punch, that’s the bottom line.”
Saturday’s game was delayed half an hour due to a thunderstorm watch in effect.
The Mavericks opened the scoring in the first on an RBI single from first basemen Hunter Cooper. Regina answered back in the top of the second with one of their own and they took a 3-1 lead in the fourth.
Gerrit Erickson was the starter for Medicine Hat and threw four and two thirds innings with one strikeout and three runs allowed. Hunter Boylan took over on the bump and worked two shutout innings with a strikeout.
The Mavericks picked up the lead with back to back two run innings in the fifth and six. A bases loaded walk in the fifth by third basemen Nathan Ade started the offence that was capped off by a Nathan Ewing sac fly. In the sixth, the Mavericks took their 5-3 lead with a double steal that saw Deon Reese swipe home plate and an RBI single from shortstop Adrian Salazar.
Salazar led the Mavericks offensively with three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. The Glendale, Ariz. product said he won’t remember the strong offensive night he had because they lost and he’s already looking towards their next game.
“It’s definitely tough knowing we had the game pretty much won already, but physical mistakes are gonna happen,” Salazar said. “It’s baseball. We’re just gonna come back and get better.”
Keon Burkholder took over the on the mound for the final out of the sixth inning and worked a clean seventh frame. Burkholder ran into some trouble in the eighth with the bases loaded and two outs. The Mavericks almost escaped unscathed but a ground ball snuck under the glove of Ewing at second and the Red Sox tied it. They took the lead a batter later.
Ewing took over on the mound for Burkholder and worked the last out of the eighth and the ninth inning with two strikeouts.
The Mavericks challenged in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on first, bringing the 885 fans in attendance to their feet, but they could not plate a run and the Red Sox held on for the win. The Mavs stranded 10 runners on base throughout the loss.
For Medicine Hat(6-10), the loss comes a night after the Mavericks snapped a four game losing streak with an 8-1 win over Regina at Athletic Park. The Mavs next action is Sunday, when they host the Swift Current 57’s for an 2 p.m. Fathers Day matinee at AP.
Jeske said he’s looking for the Mavericks to come out strong and put the game away early.
“Put them away early and not hit cruise control and go, we’ve got this, we’re better than this team,” Jeske said.
