NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN -
Medicine Hat Mavericks pitching coach Jared Libke and pitcher Bryce Libke stop for a photo at Athletic Park on Friday. Bryce joined up with the Mavericks this week, the first time he and his brother have ever shared the same team.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
There’s a new Libke in town.
Fans of the Medicine Hat Mavericks know the name well after watching Jared silence opposing batters over the past three seasons. The Saskatoon product was forced to step off the mound and into a coaching role after closing out his WCBL career with a title last summer – opening the door for his younger brother Bryce to pick up the mantle in Medicine Hat.
“I’m just here trying to help the team win,” said Bryce, who joined up with the Mavericks earlier this week. “The guys are great. They’ve accepted me really well and not just because my brother is a coach. They think of me as one of the team.”
Bryce comes to the Mavs after spending his school season competing with Missouri’s Crowder College then putting in a short stint with the Okotoks Dawgs to start the summer.
“I wasn’t getting the innings I needed in Okotoks and obviously I knew a coach here in my brother,” said Bryce. “He said, ‘if you aren’t happy there you can get a release and come over here and get some innings.’ So I got a release that day and then came over the next day.”
And it didn’t take long before Bryce was getting the innings he was aching for.
“I was here for two hours and then I started playing,” said Bryce, adding he differs quite a bit from Jared on the mound. “I like to get ahead with the fastball and finish with a breaking ball, kind of the opposite of what Jared was always like.”
Jared added he and his brother have never competed on the same roster, and while that continues to be the case, the former Mavs ace says he’s excited about what Bryce can bring to the club at a key point in the season.
“He’s just a bulldog on the mound,” said Libke. “He’s always going to compete and he’s going to get the job done.”
While they’ve only been together on the team for a few days, Bryce says he doesn’t really see Jared as a brother when they’re on the diamond – just a coach.
“I don’t really think of him as a brother on the field,” said Bryce, who has pitched 4 2/3 innings with the Mavericks over two games, allowing six earned runs on five hits and four walks in the span. “He’s more of a coach until after the game when we can talk and we have that connection where it’s just brother-to-brother.”
“I don’t think I’m too hard on him,” added Jared. “I just tell him what I see and how it is and I think he really responds well to that.”
Another notable change to come in recent days is that Jared trimmed down his infamously long beard and hair after the team dropped a three-game sweep on the road to the Regina Red Sox – though it likely won’t affect what happens on the diamond.
“That caught me by surprise,” said Bryce. “I didn’t really recognize him at first and he cut the hair, too. He looks like a completely different person.”
The Mavericks (9-16) will look to snap their three-game slide when they host the Yorkton Cardinals (2-19) in a three-game homestand this weekend, with games Saturday at 7:05 p.m., Sunday at 2:05 p.m. and Monday at 7:05 p.m.
