NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks catcher Zach Stark celebrates one of his two hits alongside stand-in base coach Tory Nelson in the Mavericks 14-6 win over the Weyburn Beavers Sunday at Athletic Park.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks had themselves a strong weekend at Athletic Park.
The Mavericks took two straight against the visiting Weyburn Beavers, winning 10-2 Saturday night and coming from behind to win 14-6 Sunday.
“It’s freaking great, we love winning here,” Mavericks first basemen Hunter Boylan said after Sunday’s win.
The victories marked a change of pace for the Mavericks who entered the weekend on a four-game losing streak and at a low point after giving up multiple large leads in the losses.
Medicine Hat trailed Weyburn 6-1 through four innings Sunday before pouring on 13 unanswered runs for the win.
Head coach Tyler Jeske said after the win their resiliency has been on display all season and said as a team they don’t believe they are ever out of a game.
“Even the games we’ve lost or we’ve given up leads, we find ways to make it interesting and get the timely run, or the go-ahead run into scoring position or on base or at least to the plate,” Jeske said. “They put up a five spot and you’re going, ‘oh boy.’ But at the same time, it was like, ‘hey, it’s early, this isn’t happening late.’ We’re digging a deep hole and it’s early, it gives us time to respond and kind of chip away.”
The Mavericks were led over the weekend by third basemen Adrian Salazar who had five hits, two RBIs and a home run Saturday night and topped that with eight RBIs Sunday on three hits and a home run.
The Glendale, Ariz. product was shocked to learn he had eight RBIs in one game and said it was a career high. He said it’s probably one of the hottest streaks he’s ever been on and that the Mavericks showed what they could do over the two game stretch.
“We just showed ourselves what we’re capable of and what we should expect every day,” Salazar said after Sunday’s win. “I think we came out and did it again today.”
He leads the Western Canadian Baseball league offensively with a .466 batting average and 30 RBIs.
Jeske said he joked with Salazar before Sunday’s game that he looks like MLBer Anthony Rendon and he shared his nickname for the third basemen that has led their offence and adapted to the defensive position.
“The nickname I’ve given him is ‘Sicario,’ from the movie Sicario, it’s hit man,” Jeske said. “When there’s opportunities to hit a ball hard, he hits the ball hard. He’s got the arm to play at third base and how he’s handled the hops, I think he’s a guy who can play all three infield positions, and that’s huge. We have three guys on our roster who all played shortstop at their schools. So for guys be able to show that kind of versatility and not take moving off shortstop as a negative but instead as an opportunity to get reps in a new position, it’s just steadying.”
The Mavericks were in action again Monday when they hosted the Swift Current 57’s at Athletic Park. That game was not complete by time of press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full story. Their next contest is Wednesday at Athletic Park when the Okotoks Dawgs come to town for a 7:05 p.m. contest.
