NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks centre fielder Brody Gardner watches on as head coach Kevin Mitchell and outfielder Adam Vulcano chest bump to celebrate the Mavs 9-1 win Sunday at Athletic Park against the Weyburn Beavers.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks have put themselves in a good position heading into the final week of the WCBL’s regular season.
A three-win weekend for the Mavs, including a two-game sweep against the last place Weyburn Beavers, has Medicine Hat one game above .500 and 4.5 games ahead of the third place Regina Red Sox.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell says this is how they drew things up, knowing things don’t always go that way but happy with the results.
“Things are good, the boys are feeling good and we’re playing our best baseball at the right time of year,” Mitchell said.
After winning 7-3 at Lethbridge against the Bulls on Friday, the Mavs beat Weyburn 8-3 on Saturday and finished the weekend with a 9-1 win Sunday, both games against the Beavers at Athletic Park.
Saturday’s win was led by started Edrian Rangel’s seven innings of two-run baseball. Centre fielder Brody Gardner had two RBIs on two hits and first baseman Andrew Savage added three RBIs on one hit.
Sunday’s win also came with strong starting pitching as Dylan Esquival worked six innings, only allowing one unearned run while striking out 11 batters. First baseman Max Valdez hit a two-run home run, his fourth long ball of the season, in the victory.
On Saturday, the Mavs stranded 12 base runners and committed two errors, which improved Sunday with only eight stranded runners and one error. Mitchell said after Saturday’s game he wanted more from his team and didn’t want them to settle with beating Weyburn. He was happy with their follow-up on Sunday.
“When we throw strikes, we play good defence and we situationally hit, we’re going to win a lot of baseball games,” Mitchell said. “We did that really well Sunday. The biggest thing was adding on runs. We scored in six of the eight innings we batted and that’s huge. If you can do that, you put yourself in a really good spot.”
Sunday’s contest marked Valdez’s final with the Mavs. As like each WCBL team has to endure with some of their players, the Franktown, Col. product has to return to school before the summer ball season comes to a close.
“Max has been great, I hope he wants to come back,” Mitchell said. “He’s a great baseball player, a great young man, he works really hard. He was here all the time getting extra work and he’s a joy to be around.”
The Mavs had an off-day Monday before opening a two-game set at Moose Jaw against the East Division leading Miller Express. After that set, the Mavs host the Bulls on Thursday before the Red Sox come to town for a two-game slate that finishes up Saturday to wrap up the regular season.
The obvious goal for the Mavs heading into the week is to extend their three-game winning streak and continue to expand that gap between them and the Red Sox. Holding onto second place would ensure home-field advantage in at least the first round of the playoffs. The other goal, Mitchell says, is to keep guys on the field.
“Staying healthy because of the numbers that we have, is a big deal,” Mitchell said.
“Also continuing to do the little things as well, which again, is getting ahead in the count playing strong defence and having a good approach at the plate. That right there, is our recipe for success in the playoffs. So we need to see that these last five games.
“At this point, the way our pitching staff has been the last couple of weeks, I feel confident putting anybody out there, which is a great feeling to have … I feel like I can use everybody and they’re gonna go out there and compete.”
Heading into the final week before the playoffs – which are slated to start Aug. 7 – Mitchell says he won’t give any big speech, but having played summer ball when he was younger, he wants to remind them about what they have in front of them.
“I’ll reiterate to them on Tuesday to really enjoy this time we have left,” Mitchell said. “Part of that is taking it day-by-day and really soaking up what all of this experience has been and still is for them. If they’re able to do that, not only will they get more enjoyment out of the rest of this season, but they will be a better baseball team because of it.”
