NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
The Medicine Hat Mavericks welcome first baseman Andrew Savage with celebrations after he scored in the Mavs' 8-0 win Saturday at Athletic Park against the Regina Red Sox.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks recorded their 30th win of the season over the weekend but are looking for six even more important victories over the next two weeks.
The Mavs’ secured their 30-26 record over the weekend splitting a two-game set at Athletic Park with the Regina Red Sox, losing 9-7 Friday before winning 8-0 in their final game of the regular season.
They opened their first round, best-of-three series, against those Red Sox, a rematch of the 2022 first round semifinals, won by the Mavericks.
Game 2 of the opening series is tonight at Regina’s Currie field and if needed, Game 3 returns to Athletic Park. The Mavs have a 1-0 lead in the series after beating Regina 11-3 Monday night at Athletic Park.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell is looking forward to the series with the Red Sox and is confident with how they match up with their East division rivals.
“Our pitchers are going to do their thing and put up zeros for us, defensively it’s all the stuff that has brought us to where we are, playing strong defence, putting the ball in play, situational hitting, throwing strikes – it’s not rocket science,” Mitchell said. “We’re very well equipped to do that right now with the guys we still have on board, the familiarity in the matchup is a good thing. Specifically from a defensive and pitching standpoint, we know how to work their hitters and I like where we’re at.”
Regina took the season series 5-3 against the Mavs. With the familiarity of the two teams, Mitchell says his team will have to remain competitive against the Red Sox pitchers and maintain their approach.
“I’ve talked to our guys a lot about their hitting approach and more often than not, guys want you to get yourself out, they’re trying to make you hit their pitch,” Mitchell said. “If we can be disciplined and use the other side of the field, stay up the middle, which has really been my rallying cry for our hitters is stay in the middle of the field, we’ll be fine.
“We have enough talent up and down the lineup that when they make mistakes, we’re going to capitalize. It’s just a matter of being patient enough to get to that point.”
The Mavs’ last regular season win was led by the performance of local product Jack Suhai on the mound. The 24-year-old made his first WCBL start and worked six, shutout innings with five strikeouts while only allowing three walks and five hits to earn the win and a quality start.
He credited his defence for making that start and the success throughout possible. He’s looking forward to the playoffs and the atmosphere it brings.
“We’re starting over right, there’s no stats, everybody has an 0-0 record,” Suhai said. “We proved it last year, it doesn’t matter what you did the whole regular season, it’s a new day, it’s a new season when the playoffs start, we know that from last year. We’re gunning for them, we’re going to keep playing how we’ve been playing this last stretch.”
Suhai was one of eight players on this season’s roster from the 2022 Mavs who entered those playoffs as underdogs in their first-round series against Regina. They opened as the four seed before sweeping the Red Sox in two games.
This season, the Mavs enter the playoffs on a hot note, having put together a stretch of 14-4 in their final 18 games. That stretch pushed them from a 16-22 record to finishing 30-26, something Mitchell says the group is proud of but looking to build off.
“It’s more of a notch on the belt than anything, in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t mean that much,” Mitchell said. “But to me personally, to Mo, the guys, it’s something to be proud of because it’s a long season, there’s ups and downs throughout any baseball season and to finish the way we have these last three weeks and to come out with 30 wins, is a victory itself.”
He had a message for his team after Saturday’s win heading into a short practice Sunday and the playoffs getting underway Monday – Good job finishing the regular season strong, but the work starts now.
“We’re six wins away from our ultimate goal, that’s it, six more wins, and the way we’ve been playing, it doesn’t feel like a huge hurdle,” Mitchell said. “We have to take them one at a time obviously but I think everybody believes we’ve got what it takes to go win the whole thing and that’s the plan. The other thing is, once playoffs start your 0-0, stats get reset and it’s a fresh start for everybody. We need to take full advantage of that.”
Editors note: The story has been updated to reflect the Mavs winning Game 1 on Monday.
