NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY
CJ Payeur (left) gets a baseball autographed by Medicine Hat Mavericks self-described utility man John Velasco during Fan Fest Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at Athletic Park.
srooney@medicinehatnews.com@MHNRooney
It’s rare for a pitcher to start two games in a row, but Jaymon Cervantes will have had 287 days between them, so he ought to be ready when the Medicine Hat Mavericks open their title defence at Athletic Park Thursday against the Brooks Bombers.
Cervantes shut down the Regina Red Sox in the deciding fifth game of the Western Major Baseball League finals Aug. 16, 2018, going seven innings in an 8-2 win in front of an estimated 2,500 fans. The Tucson, Ariz. native is back as a senior, meaning this summer will be his last in the newly-renamed Western Canadian Baseball League.
“Obviously that’s something I was looking forward to, hoping to get,” he said of getting the call for the home opener. “When I got here coach told me that I was going to be the dude day one, so I’m looking forward to it.”
He might be at first, but with 14 pitchers listed on the roster as of Tuesday’s Fan Fest, the hope is there are plenty of aces ready to deliver this summer. With the league adding eight regular season games to the regular season, now 56 per team, then pulling playoffs back from best-of-five to best-of-three, arms like Cervantes’ will certainly be in demand.
“It’s going to be harder, we’re probably going to have to go with a six-man rotation at least to start the season,” said Jared Libke, who finished as a player last year and is now the Mavs’ pitching coach. “Guys having quicker innings, really effective innings is going to make it easier on everyone.”
Players and fans mingled at the third annual Fan Fest Tuesday, replete with bouncy castles, Whiffle ball, food trucks and musician Jay Bowcott. For the returnees it was all quite familiar, whereas the newcomers got a taste of what to expect from a franchise that has seen attendance grow to more than 900 fans per game.
“Honestly, it feels the same as last year,” said Cervantes, who finished his college eligibility at Minot State playing with fellow Mav Sal Rodriguez. “That’s nice, I like that.
“We’re going to be the team to go beat, so strap it on every day and go hard.”
Other returning pitchers include Junior Pimentel, who relieved Cervantes in last year’s finale and said winning the championship was a big reason he’s back. Evan Sutta is the other, though he only played two games in 2018.
After that there are a lot of sophomores listed. Seniors tend to be sought-after because they no longer have college teams putting inning or pitch limits on them. The hope is the Mavericks have enough of a bullpen that such limits won’t become an issue late in the season.
Right now though, anything seems possible, and not only for Medicine Hat’s team.
“That’s the beauty of it, you never know,” said Libke. “Everyone comes in with the same mindset, we’re going to win this year, but only a few teams obviously have the chance to.
“We’re really hoping to be one of those teams.”
