NEWS FILE PHOTO
Medicine Hat Mavericks outfielder Jordan Phillips races from first to third base in the Mavs' June 16, 6-1 win over the Moose Jaw Miller Express at Athletic Park.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
With around a month left of the WCBL regular season, the Medicine Hat Mavericks head into a weekend series full of playoff implications.
The Mavs host the Moose Jaw Miller Express for a three-game stand this weekend at Athletic Park. The two teams have jostled for second in the East division all season, trailing the first place Regina Red Sox.
Medicine Hat holds claim to the second spot with a 21-14 record entering play Thursday. Moose Jaw sits a game back with a 20-15 record. These three games are the last time Moose Jaw will be in Medicine Hat during the regular season, the two teams will face off again July 17 at Ross Wells Park to finish the season series.
They haven’t faced each other since June 16, a 6-1 Father’s Day win for the Mavs at AP. Head coach Kevin Mitchell says it’s a great rivalry for the Mavs and he is looking forward to the competition.
“They’ve been playing really well also, it’ll be a great matchup, we play hard with those guys,” Mitchell said. “There’s a bit of a rivalry there for sure and being where we’re at in the standings, there’s no getting around it, this is a really big stretch for us.”
Mitchell says he’s focused on his team getting the results and playing sound baseball, he doesn’t want them to worry about who the opponent is.
“I don’t want guys to focus on the fact that it’s Moose Jaw, the focus just has to stay on us and doing what we’ve been doing well. If we do that, that’s all we can control.”
Medicine Hat is ahead in the season series so far, winning four of the six matchups. The Mavs also enter the series off a hot stretch against Saskatchewan teams, winning five of six games, most recently being an 8-5 win Tuesday at Athletic Park over the Swift Current 57’s.
It’s a stretch that catcher Nick Thibodeau says can only propel them into the weekend.
“We knew it would be a long six days and coming in we knew we would have to grind it out because every game really mattered (in the standings),” Thibodeau said. “We really needed to come out hard and by the record being 5-1, that shows we came out to take care of business.”
Thibodeau, a first-year Mavericks player, wasn’t on the team for the past two years of playoff matchups against Moose Jaw. The Millers beat out the Mavs in three games in the 2022 East finals and Medicine Hat outlasted Moose Jaw in three games in the 2023 East finals.
Facing them so far this season and learning about the rivalry as well as how close the two teams are in the standings, Thibodeau says the weekend of baseball gets elevated to another level.
“It’s big for us being so close in the standings with each other, we really have to focus, really come out hard and play to our best abilities,” Thibodeau said. “Whatever happens, happens. When we play the way we’ve been going, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll be able to take it.”
Before the fun gets underway tonight, the Mavs were in action Thursday against the Edmonton Prospects. That game was not complete by press time, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.
