NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY
Medicine Hat Mavericks starting pitcher Garrett Nicholson throws against the Yorkton Cardinals Monday, July 1, 2019 at Athletic Park.
With a handful of new faces in the lineup and the lowly Yorkton Cardinals in town, the Medicine Hat Mavericks did exactly what they needed to turn the corner at the mid-point of the Western Canadian Baseball League season.
The Mavs swept the last-place Cards in three games this past weekend, culminating in a 9-2 win in front of 1,039 fans at Athletic Park Monday.
Garrett Nicholson had his best start of the summer, going 7 2/3 innings and not allowing a run until after he was pulled in the seventh. Meanwhile the home team, sporting special Canada Day jerseys, got three runs in the first including an RBI double by Nolan Rattai and never looked back.
The win followed a come-from-behind 10-8 win Sunday afternoon, keyed by a solo home run from newcomer Taylor Wright after the seventh inning stretch.
Saturday saw a 7-5 win highlighted by an Austin Sojka grand slam in the second inning and six innings of shutout pitching from Owen Steele.
Though still not in a playoff position with a 12-16 record, the Mavs have some momentum and some exciting additions. Tito Jones went 4-for-8 in his first two games in the outfield, while highly-touted infielder PJ Garcia finally made his debut after a long college playoff run and hamstring injury kept him sidelined for the first month.
Yorkton, now 2-23, did a lot of little things wrong to keep themselves in the WCBL’s basement.
Medicine Hat is in Swift Current tomorrow and Friday, with a home game Thursday against Edmonton in between.
