NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks' shortstop Tyler Vanneste squares up a pitch 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 middle of the Medicine Hat Mavericks infield led the way through their East Division semifinal series win.
Shortstop Tyler Vanneste and second baseman Brady Bean led the Mavs offence in their 2-0 series win over the Regina Red Sox. The infield duo combined for 7 RBIs, 10 hits, three doubles and both hit a three-run home run in the Mavs’ 9-1 Game 2 win Tuesday.
Bean, who leads the pair with six hits, says his success has just come from playing his role.
“It feels great, we have a bunch of role players who are all playing their roles out there,” Bean said. “The locker room is absolutely good times and we’re playing basic baseball. We’re getting people on base, we’re getting them over and we’re scoring them.”
Bean has played a majority of second base this season for the Mavs, leading the team in home runs (six) and stolen bases (21). He’s already racked up three swiped bags in the playoffs and leads the Western Canadian Baseball League playoffs in batting average with a .667 average.
This offensive success from the second baseman is no surprise to head coach Kevin Mitchell.
“Brady is an awesome baseball player. He’s young, he’s got a ton of growing up to do as a baseball player but he seems like a guy who’s built for big moments,” Mitchell said. “He doesn’t let anything get too big for him. He is just yet another guy who seems really engaged, focused and is playing his best baseball at the right time of year.”
The Mavs open their East final series tonight at Moose Jaw against the Miller Express. Game 2 of the series is Saturday at Athletic Park with Game 3, if needed, set for Sunday back at Moose Jaw.
Bean says it will be their role players who will push them over the edge against Moose Jaw and he’s ready for the series.
“We’re going to keep playing hard baseball and we’re going to give it our best shot no matter what,” Bean said.
Vanneste, his middle infield partner, entered the playoffs coming off an injury that kept him out of the lineup for a little over two weeks. He played in the Mavs final regular season game on Aug. 5, an 8-0 win over Regina.
Since then, he had two hits and an RBI as the designated hitter in their Game 1 win Monday against the Red Sox before adding two more hits Tuesday and three RBIs on his first inning home run, his first dinger of the season.
He took over as the Mavs’ full-time shortstop for Game 2 with Johnny Vulcano returning to school after Game 1. It was a move Vanneste welcomed and enjoyed.
“Obviously it’s been a while so just getting the jitters out during BP and then getting back into it, it was good,” Vanneste said.
Vanneste was the Mavs’ full time shortstop before suffering his injury. His return to the position and his offensive surge early in the playoffs has made Mitchell’s job easier.
“Tyler played a great shortstop for a good chunk of the year when he was in there and his injury had him out for a couple of weeks at the end of the season and Johnny stepped up. It’s just the next-man-up mentality,” Mitchell said. “Johnny has gone back to school and Tyler steps back in like he hasn’t missed a beat. Beyond that, he hit his first home run of the year in that spot to set the tone in the first inning. He looks locked in right now and I’m glad that he’s feeling good.”
