NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks outfielder Brody Gardner celebrates his solo home run while rounding second base in the third inning of the Mavs' 5-3 win Sunday at Athletic Park over the Swift Current 57's.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The summer of 2024 has been one of ups and downs for the Medicine Hat Mavericks.
The WCBL club is coming off a 3-3 stretch in their last six games that would make a see-saw turn seasick. They split a two game set with the Regina Red Sox on July 24 and 25, a series where Medicine Hat led in the first game and lost, and the Red Sox held a lead in the second game for Medicine Hat to comeback and win.
They travelled to Weyburn on Thursday and Friday, losing in a 4-3 11th inning walk-off Thursday and surrendered six runs in the first inning Friday to fall 7-5 to the East division’s bottom team.
The Mavs bounced back in a big way, with an 18-6 trouncing of the Brooks Bombers on Saturday that saw them hit seven home runs, six of which were of two-run variety. They added two more home runs on Sunday in a 7-5 win over the Swift Current 57’s.
It’s a stretch of games head coach Kevin Mitchell says paints how they’ve played this season, up and down, riding the waves for better or worse. After the two losses to Weyburn, which came after he felt the team had re-gained some lost mojo, Mitchell says he addressed the team and said they had no option but to press on and move forward.
“The rent is due every day, it doesn’t matter what you did yesterday, you have to show up and bring your best effort and that’s true on each day,” Mitchell said. “The mojo feels like it’s back a little bit, we have a much needed off day (Monday) and then it’s really the homestretch. Seven straight games to wrap it up, we’ll have a day off and then we’re getting to playoffs.
“The goal remains the same, to go compete for a championship. To achieve that, we really have to go in playing good baseball, so the next week is really important for us.”
The Mavs kick off the final stretch of the regular season tonight with two games at Swift Current against the 57’s They host the Regina Red Sox on Thursday and Friday before the Saskatoon Berries come to town on Saturday and Sunday. They wrap the regular season on Aug. 5 at Swift Current, with the playoffs slated to start Aug. 7.
Entering play Tuesday, the Mavs (29-20) hold second place in the East and would host the Saskatoon Berries (26-23) in a first-round, best-of-three series. Medicine Hat trails the first place Red Sox (34-16) by four and a half games and is up three games on the Berries. The Moose Jaw Miller Express (25-24) sit fourth in the division, a game behind the Berries.
With the playoff stretch ahead, Mavs’ outfielder Jordan Phillips says the ups and downs don’t matter as long as they continue to get better from them and not dwell on them.
“Sometimes it’s hard to go six in a row or seven in a row,” Phillips said. “We have seven games in a row coming up and we have to just keep going. It gets hard sometimes, you get tired and it’s tiring, but we just have to keep playing hard and I see our team on top.”
Phillips had a two-run home run in the Mavs’ win Sunday and hit one of the six two-run blasts in Saturday’s win. Catcher Jaden Babiuk hit two of the two-run home runs, his first and second long balls of the season.
