NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks outfielder/pitcher Adam Vulcano strides towards the plate with a pitch in the 10th inning of the Mavs' 9-7 extra innings loss Friday at Athletic Park against the Regina Red Sox.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks couldn’t come out on top in extra innings Friday.
The Mavs lost 9-7 at Athletic Park in the 10th inning against the Regina Red Sox. Medicine Hat came into the contest with a six-game winning streak and a 7-6 win Thursday over the Lethbridge Bulls.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell says it was a tough way to lose and chalked it up to the Mavs not executing when they needed to.
“It just boils down to us not doing the things that have been so successful for us the last three weeks, that’s really it,” Mitchell said. “Those are our ingredients to winning baseball games and when we don’t have them, it’s difficult. I don’t know how many free passes we had, I don’t know how many guys we left on base but both were very high. We had some some different guys lined up today but this is a team and we expect everybody to do their part when their numbers called and it didn’t go our way tonight.”
The Mavs opened the scoring with a two-run first inning for the early lead. Back-to-back bases loaded walks from catcher Dominic VanDoorne and third baseman Tory Nelson drove in the pair of runs to put them ahead 2-0.
Regina slowly tied the game and built a lead with a combined four runs in the next three innings for a 4-2 lead. They added two more runs in the top of the seventh to jump ahead of the Mavs 6-2.
Medicine Hat jumped back into the game with an eighth inning comeback, scoring four runs to tie the game up at 6-6. The Mavs loaded the bases in the eighth with two outs and knocked in a solo run on another bases loaded walk from VanDoorne. Seven pitches later, Nelson drove a ball into right field that the Regina defender dove for and missed to clear the bases with a three-run triple.
“Tory Nelson yet again, just being as clutch as it gets,” Mitchell said about his third baseman. “That’s the loudest cheer I’ve heard here this year and I was just thinking after the game, looking up at all the little kids, how much that means to them. I’m going to talk to Tory about that, it’s pretty cool.”
Neither team capitalized in the ninth inning, forcing the extra frames that begin with a runner on second base. Regina bunted their runner to third base and scored him a batter later on a single to first base. They added on runs in the extra frame, grabbing a 9-6 lead. Medicine Hat pushed, scoring a run on an RBI single from shortstop Johnny Vulcano, but they couldn’t overcome the final score of 9-7.
Lucas Teel started the game for the Mavs, working four innings with four strikeouts while allowing four runs (three earned) on three walks and five hits. Zac Robinson came into the game in the fifth and pitched three innings, recording three strikeouts while surrendering two runs on two walks and four hits. Adam Vulcano took the ball in the eighth inning and pitched three innings with a strikeout, allowing three runs on three walks and four hits.
The Mavs (29-26) have one more game on their regular season schedule, as they host the Red Sox for a rematch Saturday at Athletic Park. With Medicine Hat set to host Game 1 of their semi finals series Monday against Regina, Mitchell is looking for his team to bounce back and enter the playoffs on a high note.
“A game like this over the course of the last month, is an outlier, so it’s okay if it remains an outlier,” Mitchell said. “If they come back tomorrow and got that out of their system, so to speak, then we’re good. That is important.”
