NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks Tory Nelson, Hunter Cooper, Deon Reese, Braden DeSonia, Zach Stark, Kellan Williamson, Nate Ade and Josh Stark pose in celebration after the Mavericks 6-5 comeback win Thursday night at Athletic Park against the Regina Red Sox.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Halfway through their WCBL season, the Medicine Hat Mavericks are in a playoff spot.
Entering Friday’s contest in Sylvan Lake against the Gulls, the Mavericks’ record sat at 12-18, good for fourth in the East division. Head coach Tyler Jeske’s goal for the second half: clinch a spot in the post season and start climbing the standings.
“The key is, maintain it and clinch a playoff spot and let’s start overtaking teams. We haven’t truly played our best baseball yet. We’ve flashed some good baseball, we’ve flashed the bad baseball and we’ve flashed some mediocre baseball,” Jeske said. “But we haven’t consistently played our best baseball yet. It’s all about peaking at the right time.”
He said if their performance had peaked at this point in the season, it would be a negative and hard to find success with.
“With the sport of baseball at some point, you’re going to go through a rough patch and sometimes look at it and say, it would have been nice to have not been quite as good in the beginning of the year so we can peak at the end. Every championship team I’ve ever been a part of, has honestly started off very mediocre at best, and we picked it the right time.”
The Mavericks started their campaign with three straight wins, then found themselves in patches of losses, including a four-game slump June 18-23.
Jeske said being in that playoff spot makes the approach in the second half easier as they can keep the atmosphere loose but still remain focused.
“It allows us to have more fun, keep the focus on, play our game and play baseball,” Jeske said. “You’re not checking the boxscores every night worried; ‘Did we pick up a game, did we lose a game?’ We can simplify it down to are we executing our approach at the plate, are we attacking opposing hitters correctly, are we playing as fundamental defence as we can. Then at the end of the day, win two out of three.”
He said the biggest positive for the first half has been the energy around the team. Jeske said after their losses or when going through stumps the vibe in the clubhouse or on the bus hasn’t dipped and has remained positive because they know they have better baseball in them.
That positive attitude on the bus will have to carry over into the second half as the Mavericks will spend a majority of their time on the road. Not including Friday’s game in Sylvan Lake, which was not finished by press time, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full story, the Mavs will play 17 of their remaining 25 games on the road.
After the Mavericks’ 6-5 comeback win Thursday night at Athletic Park against the Regina Red Sox, Jeske said he sees the longer road trips, like their current six-day trip, as a chance for the team to get even closer down the stretch.
“I’m excited to spend time with the guys and to get to know them. You have those conversations where you walk to Tim Hortons in the morning when you wake up in the hotel and there’s three guys sitting at a table and you’re like, I’m going to sit down and just, like, socialize with you guys – you don’t get to do that at home,” Jeske said. “I look at it as we feel really confident in the strength of our culture and throughout this road trip, I’m looking forward to continuing to build that.”
Being on the road as much as they will be, Jeske said having the Mavericks’ fans support at Athletic Park will be as important and appreciated as ever.
“It doesn’t seem like it’s wained, people continuously come out to the ballpark and that’s much appreciated,” Jeske said. “It makes a difference, it’s going to make the dog days of summer easier when it really starts to heat up and we’re tired from being on the road, and get back late at night and you have to show up the next day and play a game. Having that home crowd makes a difference.”
Mavs named to all-star game
Six Mavericks were named to the 2022 WCBL’s all-star game. Pitchers Isaiah Bartels, Hunter Cooper and Nate Ewing are joined by infielders Kellan Williamson, Nate Ade and outfielder Braden DeSonia with invites to the mid-season classic.
The Okotoks Dawgs will host the all-star game July 23.
