NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks starting pitcher Garrett Nicholson welcomes second basemen Deon Reese with a fist bump after working through one of his seven innings pitched in the Mavericks 5-2 loss Thursday night to the Swift Current 57's at Athletic Park.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks are heading into a weekend that will play a big role in their playoff chances.
Entering Friday night’s contest in Swift Current against the 57’s, they hold onto the fourth and final playoff spot in the East Division with a record of 16-32. They have a slim lead on the Weyburn Beavers who are in the fifth spot with a record of 12-35.
Friday’s contest was not complete by time of press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.
The Mavericks are in Weyburn Saturday and Sunday for two contests against the Beavers as they look to further the distance between the clubs and get closer to securing a playoff spot.
After losing 5-2 Thursday night at Athletic Park against Swift Current, Mavericks head coach Tyler Jeske said they have to take care of business this weekend.
“These next three are huge. Tonight’s over, that was the post-game message. Weyburn lost tonight, so they didn’t gain any ground,” Jeske said. “We had an opportunity to create more separation, but at the end of the day, they didn’t gain any ground. So tonight doesn’t change our future.”
The Mavericks led 2-0 through seven innings Thursday before allowing five runs in the eighth and ninth for the loss. They also committed five errors in the game. Jeske said they’ll use Thursday’s loss as an example of what can’t happen in a playoff push and come playoff time.
“We had a lot of teachable moments and that’s really what it comes down to is not continuing to make the same the exact same mistakes” Jeske said. “We have a lot of guys who are going to be sophomores in our lineup right now and this is not a league where you’re set up to win when you have six or seven of those guys in there and it becomes about experience. When we talked about the playoff push it really becomes, we have to hold onto our lead over Weyburn and we have to continue to get these guys that experience as quickly as possible.”
If the Mavs hold onto that final position they will look toward veteran starter Garrett Nicholson to get as close to repeating his performance in the loss as possible. The 23-year-old lefty threw seven innings with seven strikeouts while only allowing four hits.
He said it was his best start of the year and it came when he was feeling his worst after a late bus ride home and an early wake up to participate in the Stampede parade.
“It was just really understanding my body and knowing what was going to work for me,” Nicholson said. “I pretty well knew going into the outing that I wasn’t going to overpower guys, I didn’t really have my legs underneath me, what I usually do. So it was just a matter of locating my pitches and the majority ended up being fastballs so it worked out.”
While both the Mavericks and 57’s battled it out Thursday night, there was some collaboration as both teams agreed pre-game that all fielders, minus pitchers and catchers, would wear cowboy hats while on defence. Jeske said the decision came down to making the game more fun for both teams.
“I look at The Savannah Bananas in the Coastal Plains League down in Georgia and I coached a few guys who have played there and they all talk about that experience and so to me, it was one of those things that also helps keeps guys engaged, keeps guys bought into the season this late in the year,” Jeske said.
The Bananas have taken over the baseball Internet with videos of players hitting with bats on fire, pitching between their legs or while on stilts. The Bananas, who have been compared to the Harlem Globetrotters, are also a legitimate team. They have a squad that has competed in the Coastal Plains League, a collegiate summer baseball league, since 2016.
Nicholson said seeing his fielders wear the hats reminded him of why baseball is so fun.
“You go back to why you ever started playing baseball, you played because you enjoyed it,” Nicholson said. “To be able to go up there today and play in cowboy hats, it just made guys more loose and they just really enjoyed the game. It was really fun to be part of.”
