NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks second baseman Brady Bean admires his three-run home run in the Mavs' 9-1 win Tuesday to take Game 2 of their semifinals series against the Regina Red Sox.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Mavericks have started the 2023 WCBL playoffs the same way they did in 2022 and are now looking to make it a better result in the end.
For the second year in a row, the Mavs ended the Regina Red Sox’ season with a 2-0 sweep in their East division semifinals series. Medicine Hat won 9-1 at Regina on Tuesday to follow up their 11-3 victory at Athletic Park on Monday, outscoring the Red Sox 20-4 in the two contests where they never trailed.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell says his team was locked in early in the series and didn’t look back.
“We had one goal in mind and they didn’t play with their food, we took care of business like we knew we could,” Mitchell said. “That was not how I saw that game going, for us to come out and just put it on them like that, especially after a long bus ride, it was pretty cool to see.”
Mavs’ starter Dylan Esquival worked five innings striking out six batters while only allowing one hit for the win. He sees the potential in his teammates and is proud of how they’ve shown up early in the playoffs.
“If we play our game, we should roll up to the championship,” Esquival said. “From the beginning of the season, the first game to this last game, it’s a whole different team, everything’s different, the energy’s changed. It’s so fun to play with this team right now and to pitch for these guys and to be one of their top pitchers right now. It’s awesome and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
The Mavs were led offensively in the win by a pair of three-run home runs off the bats of shortstop Tyler Vanneste and second baseman Brady Bean. Vanneste’s blast, his first of the summer, put the Mavs ahead 4-0 after the first inning. He was happy to contribute in the win and has enjoyed getting to play in the playoff atmosphere.
“It’s a next level and you want to go out there for your team and win the game,” Vanneste said. “Just do what you can to stay locked in and do what you can for the boys.”
Bean’s fifth-inning home run in Game 2 was his first of the post season; he had six in 55 regular season games. His home run, which bounced off the top of the left field wall, started a four-run inning that put the Mavs up 8-0. He says he was just filling his role but was thankful to see it bounce the right way.
“Rounding the bases, that’s what we dream about as kids and that’s what it’s all about,” Bean said. “There was a lot of relief that the baseball gods helped me out there.”
Third baseman Nathan Tarver followed Bean up with a solo home run two pitches later to give the Mavs’ three home runs in the series clincher. As a team the Mavs had only 20 home runs in their 56-game season. The Mavs’ playoff offence is an increase on their regular season offensive production, where they were outscored by 31 runs.
Mitchell says the power surge and high scoring games is not how they won games throughout the season but is something they want to continue building off.
“You’ll take it when you can get it, especially this time of year,” Mitchell said. “I’m going to definitely reiterate to the guys, when we practice Thursday that as great as that offence was, we cannot lose sight of what typically wins us games. Which is putting innings together, staying in the middle of the field, that’s still our identity.
“When we’re doing those things, when our approach is good at the plate, you put yourself in a good position to have results like we had in the two games against Regina. They kind of build off of one another but it was fun, it was flashy and it was a big part in putting together two pretty dominant wins.”
Now the Mavs’ focus shifts to Friday night when they open up their East division series against the first place Moose Jaw Miller Express. The two teams met in the 2022 playoffs, where Medicine Hat took Game 1 before falling in two straight to drop the series. The 2022 Mavs entered the series as the fourth seed. This year’s team enters in second and is riding a 16-4 roll through their last 20 games.
The Mavs faced Moose Jaw 10 times in the regular season and the two teams traded wins back-and-forth for the first six matchups. The last four games, all in July, were won by the Mavs who won the season series 7-3, outscoring Moose Jaw 61-60.
Mitchell says they approach the series with a 0-0 record mindset and are looking forward to the matchup against the East division leader.
“They’ve got some talent on both sides of the ball, on the mound, and at the plate, it’s going to be a really fun battle,” Mitchell said. “They’re going to be coming for us but I think our guys are locked in and are really together in the sense they want to see this through. The success we’ve had against Moose Jaw will definitely serve us well, even in the sense that we’ve been down against Moose Jaw and been able to battle back and win ballgames.
“Throughout the course of the regular season, you play games that really help you prepare for the playoffs, and for us, several of those have been against Moose Jaw. Games where we’ve grinded out back and forth, high intensity and those things will be valuable. I feel good about the matchup, you know, I think we stack up against them pretty well and if our formula is there, getting ahead of hitters, playing good defence, putting the ball in play, I like our chances.”
