Mavericks coming off back and forth weekend

By JAMES TUBB on August 2, 2022.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The Medicine Hat Mavericks have an important week ahead.

The Mavericks have four regular season games remaining in their schedule as they make the final push for a spot in the WCBL playoffs. They’re coming off a 1-3 weekend that ended on a high note with a 15-1 win Sunday in Weyburn against the Beavers. It was a bounce-back effort for the Mavericks as they fell 12-5 Weyburn on Saturday and 10-5 in Swift Current Friday against the Swift Current 57’s.

Sunday’s win was also an important one for the club as they are four games up on Weyburn for the final playoff spot in the East division entering Monday’s contests.

Mavericks head coach Tyler Jeske said Sunday’s victory showed him the resiliency the Mavericks have.

“Our guys don’t quit, they compete hard every game and even Saturday night, when we got down early, we’re down 9-0 and it was like, we still have a chance to win this ballgame,” Jeske said. “To come out Sunday and essentially reverse the storyline from the previous night, to me was exactly what I knew we were capable of doing and it was really nice to see us come out and score runs like that.”

In Saturday’s loss the Mavericks trailed 9-0 after the first inning, whereas Sunday they jumped ahead with five runs in the first two innings and led the Beavers 10-1 after five innings. Outfielder David Dell led the way offensively Sunday in the win with three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored. Jeske said it was good to see their offence come in bunches, something not happening for a couple of games.

“We got the big inning which is something we had not really had. Our offence the last few weeks has been one, maybe two runs here and there,” Jeske said. “So to put up a big inning and a crooked number and then have Isaiah Bartels go out there and put up a zero in a shutdown inning, that was huge.”

Bartels started the game on the mound Sunday and held Weyburn at bay with six strikeouts in four innings while only allowing one hit. He’s one of a few relievers who have started games for the Mavericks as their starting rotation has been limited with injuries. Jeske said with starter Ethan Bromley unavailable to pitch over the weekend and Hunter Cooper being done on the mound for the summer, the Mavericks needed guys to step up.

“When you take those two guys out you’re looking at a significant number of innings in a week. It requires a little bit of creativity and just looking at who can we get more out of, and Bartels stepped up for four incredible innings Sunday,” Jeske said. “It’s guys stepping up doing whatever needs to get done.”

Jeske said Kam Richards, another reliever this summer, would get the start in their game Monday in Swift Current against the 57’s. That game, as well as the Mavs’ game tonight at Athletic Park against the Lethbridge Bulls, did not finish by press time, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.

Jeske said he is looking forward to being at home for the playoff push week and starting that against the Bulls tonight.

“I’m excited for this last week, especially knowing we get to finish it at home, the support of the fan base has been appreciated and strong throughout the entire season,” Jeske said. “We go into a game against Lethbridge where they’re fighting to get into a playoff spot, and we’re looking to do whatever it takes to clinch our playoff spot and use it. We have two games against Weyburn and finish up against Moose Jaw. So I’m really looking forward to being at home, in front of the home crowd I think it’s going to be an exciting week of baseball and really set the tone for what we expect to be going into the playoffs next week.”

14
-13