NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks starting pitcher Jack Novak releases a pitch in the first inning of the Mavs' 5-1 win Saturday at Athletic Park over the Weyburn Beavers.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks had all cylinders firing on every side of the baseball Saturday night.
Mavs pitchers recorded 10 strikeouts, the offence notched 11 hits and the defence turned double plays in a 5-1 win at Athletic Park over the Weyburn Beavers. It’s a win head coach Kevin Mitchell liked from all angles.
“Great pitching, great defense and timely hitting, that’s the recipe to win a lot of baseball games,” Mitchell said. “kind of slow early on, feeling it out. But the guys stuck with it and the way that we added on at the end of the game really is great to see. I thought we played really well.”
Medicine Hat came into the contest off a 7-6, 13-inning win at Brooks over the Bombers. Saturday’s victory was the Mavs’ fourth-straight win.
Weyburn opened the scoring in the second inning, putting a runner across the plate on a balk call against starter Jack Novak. The Beavers had four hits in the first two innings and were held to only four hits in the remaining seven frames.
Novak worked five frames to pick up the win, striking out five batters while allowing two walks, five hits and the lone run. Chris Shaffer entered in the sixth and worked three frames, striking out three Weyburn batters while only giving up two hits and two walks. Evan Gant finished the game in the ninth, punching out two batters with a hit and a walk allowed.
Medicine Hat tied the game up at 1-1 in the fourth, with a sacrifice hit to second base off the bat of designated hitter Nick Thibodeau. They took the lead in the sixth inning off an RBI single from left fielder Tyler Vanneste, much to the delight of the 964 Mavs’ faithful in attendance.
Second baseman Marshall Burke extended the lead in the seventh, with an RBI double that was followed up with a sacrifice fly from centre fielder Jordan Phillips for a 4-1 score.
The Mavs kept the momentum going in the eighth, with Vanneste scoring on a wild pitch for the final score of 5-1. The Saskatoon product finished the night with three hits, an RBI and the run scored.
Shortstop Blake Dale had two hits and two runs scored and catcher Michael Quick tallied three hits with a run scored. Mitchell says the balanced production through the lineup is a positive to see and something he says they’ll need for success for another 45 games plus playoffs.
“One through nine, we have guys who can come in and have an impact, even beyond that,” Mitchell said. “Not everyone’s going to have it going all the time. So you need other guys and getting contributions from different parts of the lineup, guys who are stepping up, hat’s what a baseball team needs.”
The Mavs (8-3) host the Beavers on Sunday at Athletic Park for a 2:05 p.m. contest, the final contest of a five-game stretch before two days off. Mitchell says he’s just looking for his team to stay hot and keep the momentum and good habits going.
“Keep doing the same thing, strong pitching, timely hitting and good defense, that should be that should be our recipe more often than not,” Mitchell said. “I think we’ll do that tomorrow.”
