The Medicine Hat Mavericks took care of business Friday, with a pair of wins at Athletic Park.
The Mavs beat the Regina Red Sox 3-0 in the first game and topped them 7-3 in the second game, reaching the 30 win mark with the pair of wins. The two wins against Regina give the Mavs a four-game win streak, beating Moose Jaw 17-6 on Wednesday and 16-10 on Thursday.
“We went into it Wednesday night, game one with Moose Jaw and the mindset was playoff baseball,” head coach Jonathon Thornhill said. “(Assistant coach) Ryan Reed talked pre game with hitters in the outfield and said from here on out, it needs to be playoff baseball type atmosphere for these guys, mentally, energy wise, locked in wise, focus all that stuff.
“There’s some guys that are banged up in there that are playing through it right now, that hockey mentality, if you will. So they want to lock up that second spot int he division to get a couple days rest and then be ready for when it matters the most. So very, very proud of everybody.”
Game 1
Xander Roberts earned his Dr. Pepper in the first game of the double header.
The senior from Augusta, Kan. worked seven shutout innings allowing just two hits, striking out 10 as the Mavs beat the blanked Regina Red Sox 3-0.
Roberts joked it was his first complete game shutout since his middle school days, crediting first-pitch strikes for his success.
“It really helped me out today,” Roberts said. “I got into a little bit of trouble later in the game, fastball kind of fell off a little bit, I started throwing a little more balls. But I’m trusting my guys, trusting my stuff, so I know they’ll go make plays for me and everything will all pan out.”
Roberts held Regina at bay, stranding two hits in the second and fourth inning. He also struck out Regina’s leadoff hitter, the beer batter in the first game, three times.
“ The lefties, the change up is the go to and the change up was really on today and mixed it well all game and even with him,” Roberts said.
The Mavs scored in the fourth inning, cracking the goose egg on the scoreboard. Catcher Nate King had an RBI single for the 1-0 lead and leaving runners on the corners with one out. In the same inning, Yusei Ozawa beat out a double play to score another run for a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jeremy Freeman Jr. brought in another run with a bases-loaded walk for the 3-0 final score.
For Roberts, the win is his sixth of the season, putting him into a three-way tie for the most wins in the league. An outing like that, his third straight win, continues to build confidence for the all-star pitcher as the WCBL playoffs near.
“Being able to know that after a rough outing like Saskatoon, knowing the guys still have my back and everything like that, it’s just one game, it’s baseball, it’s bound to happen, so it’s awesome.”
Game 2
The Mavs saw another strong pitching outing and an offence that chipped away to beat the Red Sox 7-3.
Starter Gary Dornan struck out seven batters in his six innings of work for his third win of the season. Three of those strikeouts came in the first inning for Dornan.
“That was awesome, the first strikeout I got there I was (happy) I struck someone out, I haven’t been really striking people out lately, and it was on three pitches,” Dornan said. “So then the next one was on three pitches and then I got the other guy was a 0-2 counts. This could be cool, he hits a foul ball. It’s
pretty close to immaculate.”
Tyler Vanneste finished with three RBIs on the day, a sacrifice fly in the first and another one in the second before blasting a solo home run in the third, his seventh. Vanneste hit eight home runs in the home run derby at the WCBL all-star game on July 19. He says the power stroke Friday night was a little different.
” I wasn’t as tired for that one (tonight),” Vanneste said. “But it felt good. Hadn’t hit one in a while, so it felt good to get one out,”
Aaron Vulcano had a two-run single in the second inning as well. Vulcano has tallied seven RBIs in the last three games. He had four in the Mavs’ 16-10 win Thursday at Moose Jaw over the Miller Express.
“It’s just getting more comfortable with every game and  just keep hitting the way I hit and to hope for the best results,” Vulcano said.
Luke Barrientos worked a clean seventh inning to hold the lead and secure the second win on the night. For the Mavs to use just three pitchers on the day was just as important as the two wins Thornhill says.
“Being able to get that from Xander, being able to get six from from Gary today is huge and then having Luke getting back on the mound for the first time in the bit to get a feel again, to get keep that rhythm going, is great,” Thornhill said. “We have guys like (Ryan) Harney, Diego (Centella), (Garrick) Levesque, (Tyler) Cutler, I can keep going, we have a lot of arms available for tomorrow and a big game. We can’t overlook Swift. We owe them one from this earlier in the week, so we enjoy this today but we have a job to do tomorrow.”
The Mavs host the Swift Current 57’s on Saturday and Monday for the final two home games of the regular season.
“The biggest thing is just enjoy the last ones,” Vanneste said. “We have two more home with our  fans, so we have those and lots of energy for those and then get on the road and come back, come back for another home game in the playoffs.”
