NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks third basemen Adrian Salazar walks towards the dugout after celebrating his two run home run at the plate in the Mavericks 14-6 Sunday afternoon against the Weyburn Beavers at Athletic Park.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks put on a show Sunday afternoon.
After trailing the Weyburn Beavers 6-1 through four innings, the Mavericks scored 13 unanswered runs to pick up the 14-6 win at Athletic Park.
The win marks the Mavericks second victory in a row after they beat the Beavers 10-2 Saturday night. It’s the first time since the opening series of the season against the Moose Jaw Miller Express that Medicine Hat has won consecutive games.
Mavericks head coach Tyler Jeske said as good as it feels to win Sunday, they have to be ready for their contest Monday at Athletic Park against the Swift Current 57’s.
“Tomorrow we show back up and we’re 0-0 again, we have a tough opponent in Swift Current,” Jeske said. “Every game with them has been close, it’s been tight. So for as good as it feels today, kind of shift the mindset of enjoy this for tonight. But once you wake up tomorrow, you’re 0-0 again.”
Medicine Hat opened the scoring in the contest with a deep centre field sacrifice fly from third basemen Adrian Salazar that drove in the tagging centre fielder, Braden DeSonia, all the way from second base.
The sac fly marked the first of a career high eight RBI’s on the day for Salazar as he led the Mavericks offensively with three hits and a home run. He’s happy that the Mavericks strung together the two wins and was surprised to hear his offensive stats in the game.
“It’s good to keep it going, keep this hot streak going,” Salazar said. “It’s probably one of the hottest streaks I’ve ever been on.”
Ethan Bromley got the start for the mavericks and lasted only two and a third innings, tossing up three strikeouts while allowing five runs. Isaiah Bartels took over on the mound and worked two and two thirds innings with one run allowed and two strikeouts of his own.
Weyburn led 6-1 going into the bottom of the fifth where the Mavericks started their onslaught of offence.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth and the bases loaded, Salazar hit a bloop single in between three Weyburn defenders on the out field grass to drive in all three runs and find himself on third base. He scored a pitch later on an error by the Beavers third basemen.
In the sixth inning, the Mavericks poured in eight runs on seven hits to take the lead. Catcher Zach Stark kicked it off with an RBI single which was followed up with a RBI single from second basemen Kellan Williamson.
Weyburn made a pitching change and on his first offering to Salazar, the Glendale, Arizona. product hit the ball over the left field wall driving in three runs for his second home run of the season. His first coming in Saturday’s win.
First basemen Hunter Boylan kept the offence going as he cashed in two runners on an RBI single before Stark, up for the second time in the inning, smacked his a RBI double.
Boylan and Stark each finished the day with two hits, two runs scored and two RBI’s. The first basemen said they love winning at Athletic Park and in front of the 1,447 fans in attendance.
Kam Richards was on the mound for the Mavericks in the top of the sixth and following the big inning, was the winning pitcher Sunday with two innings pitched and one strikeout. The Lacey, Wash. product said the pitching staff worked well together and had each others backs in the win, something he says gives him confidence in the group.
“It’s an amazing feeling, early in the season we struggled there and for the second or third game in a row to be able to come out of the ‘pen everybody and everybody do their job to contribute to the games, it’s just a wonderful feeling,” Richards said.
The Mavs struck once again in the seventh inning on an RBI single down the left field line from Salazar to cap off his day at the plate.
Bryce Libke and Keon Burkholder worked the eighth and ninth innings respectively to close out the game and secure the win for the Mavs.
Boylan said he has seen big things coming for the Mavericks and that this is just the start.
“I’ve been seeing it, I think the storm is coming in,” Boylan said. “I think we’re going to get hot, we’re going to really go for it. Our offence is here, our pitching is here. I think it’s going be great, we’re going do well.”
The Mavericks (8-13) are back in action Monday at Athletic Park against the Swift Current 57’s. That game gets underway at 7:05 p.m.
