NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks outfielder Brody Gardner celebrates his eighth inning, RBI single to give Medicine Hat their final winning score of 8-7 against the Swift Current 57's at Athletic Park.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks literally shed blood and sweat for their Thursday night win.
Outfielder Brody Gardner played the majority of the game with a bloody lip after a collision with the outfield fence and drove in the winning run in the eighth for the Mavericks 8-7 victory over the Swift Current 57’s at Athletic Park.
Gardner, with some dried blood on his lip and a wide smile, was just happy they could get the win.
“It’s really big especially going into Moose Jaw, who are one of the better teams in the league,” Gardner said. “But just like how we played Okotoks last night and how we played tonight, we’re proving we can play with anybody. We just have to keep grinding keep going.”
The Mavericks came into Thursday’s game off a 7-6 loss at Okotoks against the Dawgs on Wednesday. They hit the road Friday for Moose Jaw to face the East division leading Miller Express. Head coach Mark Goodman echoed his left fielder’s thoughts on the Mavericks last couple games and was happy they could get a win in front of the 1,842 Mavericks’ fans in attendance.
“The last few nights we’ve been playing better ball, we’re trying to stay under five walks and we’re trying to work on our errors,” Goodman said. “Once again tonight, we did pretty good staying to that and accomplishing our goals. These last two nights, we’re just trying to put a little bit better ball together and it’s paying off.”
Mavericks pitchers only allowed three walks and the defence only committed one error in Thursday’s win. Garrett Nicholson had the start for the Mavericks and he pitched three innings allowing four runs on seven hits with one of those walks. Tim Carlson came into the game in relief and worked 3.1 innings, notching a strikeout while allowing three runs on four hits and two walks.
Dylan Weaver came into the game in the top of the seventh inning after Swift Current had tied the game up at 7-7. Weaver held the 57’s at bay, only allowing one hit in his 2.1 innings of work with four strikeouts. After striking out the first two batters in the ninth, Weaver gave up a ground ball to shortstop Bret Carrell who threw a ball in the dirt that Max Valdez scooped for the final out.
“That was a huge play,” Weaver said. “I threw a good pitch, he put it down and that’s a tough play to make but Bret’s a good infielder, he came through and made a good throw with a good stretch by Max at first. It was a big win for the team, I knew we all felt that the end and that’s how we want to come together to win the game.”
Swift Current opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning before they added three runs in the top third for a 4-0 lead. The Mavericks answered back in the bottom of that frame, plating three runs on a two RBI double from Gardner who later scored on a catcher error.
Medicine Hat grabbed a lead in the bottom of the sixth inning after plating four runs. Carrell led off the frame with a solo home run and three batters later right fielder Brady Bean drove in a pair with a two RBI double. After a Swift Current pitching change, designated hitter Johnny Vulcano drove the first pitch he saw into centre field to score Bean from second base.
Swift Current scored their three runs in the seventh inning but it was the Mavericks and Gardner who drove in the last run. Goodman says it stood out to him how Gardner bounced back from the early collision and had a two hit, three RBIs night.
“Just trying to catch a ball off the wall and he puts his three through his lip but still plays a game and still plays it hard, that was awesome for him,” Goodman said. “He could have easily been out fo the game so good for him for being a tough guy for us.”
The Mavericks (10-11) get ready to open a four-game set against Moose Jaw starting Friday while continuing their stretch of 10 games in nine days that kicked off Wednesday. Goodman says their focus heading into the weekend series is continuing momentum and executing against a first place team.
“It’s the best team, so I think it’s an opportunity for us to move up in the standings right now,” Goodman said. “We’ve got new blood coming in, so I feel like we have the advantage of this series and we get to play three games at home which is hard to beat.”
