NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks first baseman Evan Morrison celebrates his walk-off double in the bottom of the 10th inning in the Mavs' 5-4 win Friday over the Weyburn Beavers at Athletic Park.
The hometown kid gave the Medicine Hat Mavericks’ faithful a flashy send-off to the weekend.
Medicine Hat product Evan Morrison drove a ball to the gap in right-centre field for the Mavs’ 5-4 walk-off win over the Weyburn Beavers.
Morrison couldn’t wipe the smile off his face after the win, his first walk-off hit in his young baseball career.
“It was honestly no doubt off the bat, like straight to the gap and I thought, this game is over,” Morrison said. “It’s such a crazy feeling.
“The feeling of hitting a home run, that’s nice. But I’ve always wanted to hit a walk off and man, it’s like nothing else.”
Mavs’ head coach Kevin Mitchell was as electrified postgame as his young first baseman. He was frustrated early in the game with how the game was going but Mitchell says he was proud to see them pull off the win.
“I’m sure our guys were (frustrated) as well, but you’re not going to have your best stuff every night and we did enough to hang around and then we pitched it well enough to hang around,” Mitchell said. “Tip of the cap to Cesar Rodriguez, that was a hell of a job he did tonight.
“I talk to these guys about it all the time, these kinds of games are what help you win the big ones a few weeks from now, the playoff games. Where the temperature is high. It comes back to nights like this.”
Weyburn opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning. Medicine Hat matched the tally two innings later, striking for a run in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly from right fielder Jordan Phillips.
The Beavers answered back in a big way, rattling off three runs in the top of the fourth on five hits for a 4-1 lead.
Medicine Hat did respond, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth to bring them within one.
Centre fielder Brody Gardner plated a run with an RBI double and Phillips drove in his second RBI with a sacrifice groundout to make it a 4-3 game.
Braedon Davis started the game for Medicine Hat, working five innings allowing the four runs on six hits with two walks and three punch-outs. Cesar Rodriguez worked the last five innings of the game, allowing just two hits and two walks, striking out a pair for the win.
Rodriguez kept the Beavers at bay throughout the last half of the game, facing more than the minimum in only one inning. He says he wasn’t focused on anything besides getting outs.
” I wasn’t really focusing much on like personal things, it was more like for the team,” Rodriguez said. “I have to make sure that we can still have a chance today to win the game and thankfully, I was able to do that today.”
Medicine Hat pushed in the eighth inning for the tie, working the bases loaded with only one out. Morrison popped out behind second base and third baseman Blake Dale grounded out to end the threat.
After Rodriguez worked a quick top of the ninth, it came down to their final out, but the Mavs tied the game.
Catcher Michael Quick drew a lead-off walk and moved up on a passed ball. Phillips stepped to the plate and knocked third pitch he saw into centre field to score Quick and make it a 4-4 game.
In the extra frame, Rodriguez recorded two quick outs before surrendering one of his two walks in his outing. He stranded him and the auto runner at second base, striking out the final batter to give his team the chance to win it all.
With Jaden Babiuk pinch running at second as the auto runner, designated hitter Micah Dvorak was intentionally walked. The Mavs first batter, shortstop Johnny Vulcano, struck out. Setting Morrison up for his hero moment.
Morrison put a charge into the pitch and started rounding the bases, throwing his hand in the air to celebrate the long-awaited moment and the game winner.
The Mavs outhit the Beavers 9-8 and played clean defence, with Weyburn committing two errors.
Medicine Hat (26-16) is off Saturday for the all-star game before heading to Swift Current on Sunday to face the 57’s The Mavs are sending pitchers Jack Novak, Jacob Petersheim, infielders Marshall Burke and Tyler Vanneste, catcher Nick Thibodeau and outfielder Jordan Phillips to the all-star game at Okotoks’ Seaman Stadium. They’ll be joined by Mitchell and assistant coaches Cody Henderson and Troy Nelson.
Mitchell will serve as the East division head coach and is looking forward to sharing the moment with everyone from the Mavs.
“The fact that I get to be the all-star head coach has to do with so many more people than just me,” Mitchell said. “It’s that guy sitting there (owner/general manager Greg Morrison), the players that we’ve had specifically last summer. So there’s a lot of a lot that’s gone into it to allow me to have the opportunity tomorrow and I’m really grateful for that.”
