NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks pitcher Garrett Nicholson delivers a pitch in the Mavs 9-4 loss Monday at Athletic Park against the Brooks Bombers.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Like sadistic poetry, the Medicine Hat Mavericks’ loss Monday encapsulated what has been a difficult two weeks.
The Mavs lost 9-4 Monday at Athletic Park against the Brooks Bombers, marking their fourth loss in a row ahead of off days Tuesday and Wednesday. Medicine Hat’s dropped 10 of their last 14 games as well and is still looking for their first win at Athletic Park since June 25.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell says it’s been quite a week for the Mavs.
“It’s just felt like one of those weeks where the Murphy’s Law action, anything that could happen did happen,” Mitchell said. “I’m really not going to read too far into it, I told the guys let’s get away from the game. We’ll have these two days off, get away from the game for a little bit then come back ready to go. It’s baseball, it’s tough. If it was easy, everybody would do it.”
The Mavs gave up seven free bases on six walks and one hit by pitch in Monday’s loss. In their 13-9 loss Sunday against the Sylvan Lake Gulls, the Mavs either walked or hit nine runners, eight of whom scored. They have walked the second most batters in the WCBL (172) and still remain atop the league’s error totals (64). It’s been a talking point for a large part of the season and was a continued conversation this week.
“The big thing for me is the last five days, we haven’t thrown enough strikes, way too many free passes,” Mitchell said. “It’s just hard to win when that happens. We had the misplay in the first inning, a bunch of walks and untimely hits.”
In the first inning Monday a fly ball hung in the air due to wind before ultimately dropping between second base and right field, with both the right fielder Brady Bean and second baseman Johnny Vulcano failing to catch it. What stood out to Mitchell on that play, besides the fact it should have been caught, was how Vulcano handled himself afterwards.
“Johnny had that ball in the first inning, pop up, the wind was blowing, he thought he should have had it, comes out in his first at bat and rips a single through the six hole and had good at bats all night long,” Mitchell said. “Mistakes are going to be made in baseball, they will always be made. But it’s not the mistakes you make, it’s what you do after the fact. I’ve seen that time and again with Johnny where he just plays hard. He always plays hard and regardless of result, I’m happy to have a guy like that.”
Monday’s contest was paused in the seventh inning due to thunder and lightning near Athletic Park. After a 47-minute delay the game resumed with fans still in the stands cheering on the home team. Mitchell thanks those who stayed with them until the end as Medicine Hat made a three-run, ninth-inning push before ultimately losing.
“To put something together at the end as crazy as that game was, it felt like we had a chance because that’s baseball,” Mitchell said. “It actually felt like we could do it there. It doesn’t always go that way, obviously, but I think bigger picture, that was a good thing we were able to string some good at bats together there at the end.”
The Mavericks remain in third place of the WCBL’s East division with a record of 16-22. After their two off-days, the Mavs host the Weyburn Beavers on Thursday at Athletic Park for the first of two games against the Beavers.
