NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks first baseman Tory Nelson embraces his teammates high fives after scoring in the Mavericks 7-5 win Thursday night at Athletic Park against the Swift Current 57's.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks have a knack for scoring runs late in the game.
Five of Medicine Hat’s eight wins on the young WCBL season have been secured with runs scored in the last three innings of the game, including Thursday night’s 7-5 victory at Athletic Park against the Swift Current 57’s.
Mavericks first baseman Tory Nelson, who was one of three Medicine Hat players with two hits and an RBI in Thursday’s win, says they’ve built a nickname around their late-inning tendencies.
“We have a joke in the clubhouse that we’re the ninth-inning Mavs because we always love to score runs late in the game,” Nelson said. “Once we put it all together and are coming out as hot as we are at the end of the games, we’re going to be untouchable.”
The Mavericks were held scoreless for the first four innings Thursday before getting on the board in the fifth with two runs, starting a stretch of scoring in four straight frames leading to the victory. Head coach Mark Goodman loves that his team doesn’t give up in games and is able to string those runs together.
“The lineup wasn’t as powerful as it usually is but those guys in the bottom of the order stepped up,” Goodman said. “When they got the opportunity to play they made a great job out of it, stepping up for us and not giving up and that’s just something we’ve done all summer is not give up. That’s what I love about these boys.”
The Mavericks had the chance to get down early in the game as officiating took centre stage in the second inning. In the top of the frame with the bases loaded in Swift Current’s favour, the 57’s put a ball in play that appeared to hit the runner making his way from first to second base, ricocheting in a different direction and into right field. The first base umpire Tyler Murphy ruled it a hit and after questions from Goodman and a discussion between the three officials, the call stood and the 57’s grabbed a 1-0 lead.
After the game, Goodman said the umpire’s explanation was that the first baseman made an attempt at the play, ruling out interference but the umpire did not address runner interference for being hit with the ball while on the base paths. The Mavericks were able to make it out of the inning while only giving up the one run, getting help from a Swift Current runner colliding with second baseman Johnny Vulcano leading to an out.
The Mavericks benefited from and then lost a run later in the game on two separate calls of ‘umpire interference’ on stolen base attempts from both teams. Goodman was proud the team didn’t crumble after having the umpires dictate play and were able to stay in the game.
“Earlier in the year we were tripping a little too much and we’ve talked about how it is what it is what we’ll get with umpires here,” Goodman said. “We have to make the best of it, making them more mad at us does not help us with any calls. I will back our boys up when it’s absolutely necessary. But sometimes, you have to bite the bullet on these plays and just wear it.”
The Mavericks ride into the weekend off two straight wins against Swift Current, having also beat them 7-5 on Tuesday in an extra innings affair. They faced the Okotoks Dawgs on Friday in a game that was not complete by press time. Visit medicnehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.
The Mavericks are in Brooks on Saturday to face the Bombers before returning to the friendly confines of Athletic Park to host Swift Current on Sunday in a Father’s Day matinee. Medicine Hat’s lineup is battling injuries coming off a busy week of ball, and with more games ahead Goodman says it’s up to guys to step up and embrace their roles.
“This is a great opportunity for those guys who haven’t gotten a lot of playing time to show who they really are,” Goodman said. “If they can step up and get in, then they’re going to be in the lineup. We have a couple guys coming in the next weeks who will help build this squad a little bit. So guys have three more games to show who they are and hopefully they can solidify themselves in this position and not worry about the new guys. But, we’ll weather the storm when it comes.”
