NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks catcher Dominic VanDoorne blocks a pitch in the dirt during the Mavericks 12-3 win Friday over the Brooks Bombers at Athletic Park.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks are approaching a much deserved day off.
The club wraps up a nine-game, nine-day stretch tonight in Swift Current against the 57’s, with Wednesday off before four straight games to complete a 14-in-15-day run.
Their record was 3-4 in the first seven of those, not including Monday’s battle at Athletic Park against the Fort McMurray Giants, a game not complete by press time. Head coach Mark Goodman is looking for two wins to wrap up the long stretch but says staying at .500 will keep them in the playoff hunt.
He just wants to see more consistency in hitting and pitching from his team.
“We just like to pick and choose which night we want to, you know, excel in one and not the other,” Goodman said. “The last two games in Moose Jaw, we had a great pitching performance out of the pen, Caz (Kyle Calzadiaz) came in and did a great job to keep us in the game. But we had 16 hits and it was seven runs, we’re having to get three hits to score a run when the other team is getting a run on every hit and a half. The last two games we were just hitting it, we weren’t situational hitting, which was really hurting us.”
After beating the Brooks Bombers 12-3 at home Friday, the Mavs opened a two-game set against the first place Moose Jaw Miller Express with a 7-6 win Saturday before falling 10-3 on Sunday.
Calzadiaz pitched five innings of relief in Saturday’s victory, picking up the win, with seven strikeouts and no runs, surrendering just one hit and two walks. What makes the outing more remarkable beyond the win is the right-hander was battling flu-like symptoms that Goodman likened to NBA legend Michael Jordan’s infamous ‘flu game.’
“Caz’s performance in Moose Jaw was epic, it was like the flu game, he was throwing up in the first innings and before the game, he threw up between innings and then goes out there and throws a gem,” Goodman said. “The flu game for him was absolutely huge against a first-place team.”
Goodman says it’s an outing that shows what Calzadiaz can do and hopefully become when he returns to Cal Poly Pomona in the fall.
“Kyle probably threw more innings in that game than he had all season at school, and he hit 94 (mph) multiple times and had that team saying, ‘Who is this guy,’ and they couldn’t believe he never played in school,” Goodman said. “It just shows if you give a guy a chance in a different situation, you never know what can happen. Hopefully he goes back next year and becomes a starter or an impact player because of this summer.”
Goodman also singled out catcher Dominic VanDoorne’s production over the last couple games, saying the backstop has been reaching the next level asked of him.
“He’s stepping up behind the plate and at DH and just being solid for us right in that middle of the order where we need it,” Goodman said. “It’s finally coming to fruition and I’m glad he’s being who he should be.”
The Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. product had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI over the weekend series in Moose Jaw. He agreed with his skip, looking for more consistency in the wins and losses.
“We’ll lose a game, get mad, then go out and show everybody what we’re about and beat a team by 10 or 15,” VanDoorne said. “So let’s try and beat them by 15 and then do it again and again instead of taking a loss after a big win.”
Donning the catcher’s gear, VanDoorne is involved with a majority of the plays in a game and has a lot of activity throughout a contest. Pair that with a stretch of nine-straight games with bus trips across the West, and there’s a lot of wear and tear that can build up.
Navigating busy stretches comes down to being responsible before and after games, VanDoorne says.
“When you get off the bus, get to stretching and try not to sit in a weird position on the bus, just get sleep when you can,” he said. “When you’re not stopping for a while, it’s hard with going to the bathroom and everything, getting up moving around, but you have to do your part.
“Just have to try and be ready so you don’t make errors for the pitcher or for your teammates.”
Visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for full coverage of Monday’s game. The Mavs’ next home game is Thursday against Swift Current, 7:05 p.m. at Athletic Park.
