NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks catcher Zach Stark keeps his eye on the ball mid swing during an at-bat in the Mavericks 7-0 loss to the Regina Red Sox Wednesday night at Athletic Park.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks are riding peaks and valleys right now.
The Mavericks were held to four hits Wednesday night in their 7-0 loss to the Regina Red Sox, a night after scoring four runs early before falling 6-5 to Regina at Athletic Park.
Medicine Hat came into the week riding two straight wins over the Weyburn Beavers where they scored a combined 19 runs. After Wednesday’s loss, head coach Tyler Jeske said the Mavericks need to simplify and execute their approach and not just swing for the fences in order to rack up more hits.
“When we started the game, we were doing a nice job of that, we didn’t strike out until late in the game, hit some balls hard, balls moving forward and they were making plays defensively,” Jeske said. “As the game gets later and later and they keep adding one here, one there, that’s when you start pressing more and more.
“What it comes down to, to me, is hey, we could look at the seven spot and go, ‘Our pitching really didn’t give the offence a chance,’ right, but they put up shutdown innings. When they get on the board we have to be able to punch back and at least threaten to get runners on and really pressure them, and we weren’t able to do that tonight.”
Outfielder Josh Stark had two of the Mavs’ four hits Wednesday night. He said the group needs to keep heads up as they battle through the struggles.
“Just stay confident and know we can beat any team in the league,” Stark said. “You know a lot of people, like, we start off hot and then we kind of go downwards but if we stay hot the entire game there’s no team in this league who is gonna beat us.”
The Mavericks faced off with the Red Sox on Thursday night for the final match of their home stand. That game was not complete by time of press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full story on the game. The Mavs are on the road Friday in Sylvan Lake to take on the Gulls for the first game of a six-day road trip.
Wednesday’s loss puts the Mavericks’ record at 11-18 on the season, and they remain in fourth place of the WCBL’s East Division.
Jeske said all it will take for the Mavericks to snap out of their slump is a big moment.
“We’re still in the fourth playoff spot, that’s the thing to keep in mind,” Jeske said. “A big moment’s going to happen and we’re at that point now where we’ve been through the peaks and valleys and we’ve grown and we’ve hit the low, the lowest of lows. Once that big moment happens, that’s the catalyst.”
