NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks relief pitcher Leo Woods strides towards the plate with a pitch in the Mavs’ 10-5 win Sunday at Athletic Park over the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks had themselves a rebound Sunday.
After surrendering a pair of leads in a 14-11 loss Saturday night to Moose Jaw, the Mavs bounced back with a 10-5 win Sunday over the Miller Express at Athletic Park.
The win is the third for the Mavs in the four-game home stand this weekend. Head coach Kevin Mitchell liked his team’s compete and composure in the win.
“We battled today,” Mitchell said. “It was kind of a war of a three days with those guys as I thought it would be and I was proud of the way we that we executed today. I thought we did better than then last night, we played clean defence throughout the game and it was a battle for sure but we took care of business and won the series.”
Moose Jaw opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning and added another pair of tallies in the third inning for a quick 4-0 lead.
The Mavs bounced back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the third to make it a one-run game.
Left fielder Brody Gardner hit a ball through the legs of the Moose Jaw shortstop to bring in a run and centre fielder Jordan Phillips looped a ball in behind second base to score a pair of runs.
The Mavs grabbed a lead in the next inning, scoring three runs to jump ahead 6-4 after four frames.
Second baseman Marshall Burke hit a ball at the Moose Jaw third baseman who bobbled it into left field, allowing two runs to score. He then score on a wild pitch to cap off the inning.
Medicine Hat starter Jacob Petersheim worked five innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits, one walk with three strikeouts.
Leo Woods took over on the mound and worked the remaining four innings, allowing a lone run on four hits with one punch-out.
Moose Jaw countered in the sixth inning, scoring a run to make it a 6-5 game. That was as close as they got to a tie, as Medicine Hat added to the lead.
The Mavs scored three time in the bottom of the sixth, led off with an RBI double from Burke, giving him three RBIs with two hits and two runs scored in the win.
Gardner hit a ball up the middle to score Burke and catcher Nick Thibodeau scored a run with a deep sacrifice fly to centre field to cap off the frame.
Woods worked out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the seventh inning to keep the Mavs ahead 9-5. Moose Jaw caught a break in the bottom of the frame, recording a triple play on a bunt that hung in the air long enough to be caught and thrown around the diamond, catching the Medicine Hat runners at first and second.
The Mavs did get another run to finish the day, with an RBI double from centre fielder Jordan Phillips in the bottom of the eighth for the 10-5 final.
Moose Jaw outhit the Mavs 14-11 and the Millers committed the lone error of the game.
The Mavs (24-15) are off Monday and Tuesday before they head to the Moose Jaw on Wednesday to face the Millers for the final time this regular season.
