NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY - Nathan Stark of the Medicine Hat Mavericks pitches against the Okotoks Dawgs Tuesday at Athletic Park.
As dark clouds rolled in at Athletic Park, the Medicine Hat Mavericks’ chances of hosting a playoff series rolled out.
The Mavs lost 11-1 to the Okotoks Dawgs Tuesday, relegating them to third in the Western Canadian Baseball League’s Western Division with a game to go in the regular season.
“Tough day,” said catcher Colton Wright. “We know where we’re at with the playoffs, we know we clinched (a spot).
“It was a tough one today.”
Medicine Hat will finish a postponed game in Okotoks tonight, then head to Lethbridge to begin the best-of-three division semifinal series Thursday. Game 2 will be at Athletic Park Friday, with a third game back at Spitz Stadium Saturday if needed.
“Honestly it did not matter (for home field advantage),” said Wright, noting the team’s pitchers will be ready regardless. “We’ve got Jaymon (Cervantes) going Game 1, we’ve got Owen Steele going Game 2, Garret Nicholson going Game 3, that’s all that matters.
“Three guys are going to go out there and give us our best chance. Obviously we’d rather be here, we love our fans, we appreciate them, but it doesn’t matter where we go.”
Tuesday started well enough under sunny skies with 1,589 fans coming to life when Collin Klingensmith doubled, somehow avoided being tagged out at third and scored in the first inning.
But Dawgs starting pitcher Jared Spearing struck out Freddy Walker and Klingensmith to get out of a bases loaded jam in the second, then his offence went to work on hometown Hat pitcher Nathan Stark.
After Okotoks loaded the bases with none out in the third, William Hollis drove one in on a sacrifice fly and Brett Esau doubled in another to take the lead.
Tristan Peters singled in Micah MacDonald in the fourth. Then came the rain.
JT Patterson went a Stark pitch over the centre-field wall for a two-run home run in the fifth, extending the Dawgs lead to 5-1.
Medicine Hat threatened in the bottom of the inning but Klingensmith was caught off second on an Austin Sojka line out to centre-field, easily doubled off to end the inning.
After a 10-minute rain delay the teams slogged through the final innings, Stark finishing with four strikeouts and five runs against on eight hits in six innings. Hunter Cooper tossed 2 1/3 innings for the Mavs, giving up a two-run home run to Hollis as part of a six-run ninth that ended any thought of a comeback. Zach Mcdermott got the last two outs.
Spearing was also relieved after the sixth, also striking out four but only letting up four hits. Brendan Logan, Brandon Desjardins and Dustin Schorie each went an inning to shut things down for the 39-15 Dawgs.
Meanwhile Lethbridge beat Brooks 3-1, finishing their regular season at 31-25. Even if the 30-25 Mavericks win tonight’s finale in Okotoks to tie that mark, they still lost the season series with the Bulls 5-3.
“You just go out and play,” Wright said of how the Mavs will approach a game that’s meaningless in the standings. “You go and compete, that’s all you can do.”
But, he noted, “Playoff baseball is the best, especially in this league.”
