NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Mavericks starter Josh Landry admires a pitch in the second inning of the Mavs' 11-2 win Saturday night at Athletic Park over the Saskatoon Berries.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks set the tone early ahead of the WCBL playoffs next week.
The Mavs scored 11 runs Saturday night to beat the Saskatoon Berries 11-2 at Athletic Park. With the Moose Jaw Miller Express’ 8-6 loss tot he Weyburn Beavers, the Mavs will face the Berries in the East semi finals scheduled to start Wednesday.
Head coach Kevin Mitchell liked the presence his team had in the game.
“That’s something, it doesn’t matter if it’s a regular season game, a playoff game or gGame 3 of the championship, that’s the way we need to carry ourselves,” Mitchell said. “The energy and the hustle, the presence that they showed tonight was confident and thorough. We looked really prepared to play baseball tonight. It was awesome, we had 20 hits and we gave up two runs, we pitched it really well. Just an all-around good win.”
That presence started on the mound with the Mavs’ starter Josh Landry. The 6-foot-7 lefty has worked primary as a reliever this summer while coming off a national title winning spring as a starter. He’s worked through some ups and downs this summer and was elated to have the success he did on a Saturday night in the Hat.
“It was fun being able to start, haven’t done that since school so, so really comfortable having my routine,” Landry said. “Mitch told me I got the ball a couple of days ago, so I already set in motion, all of my pregame stuff and the days leading up to it, I just felt super comfortable.
“I did feel a little rushed in that first inning. But after the second inning, I felt control, the body settled in and we just started dialling pitches. It was really fun. My host mom was there, they were celebrating her birthday, so she was down front in that dugout suite, so it’s really cool to be able to get out of the innings and kind of glance over and see the whole suites pumped up, fired up for you.”
The Berries looked like they were starting the world on fire with a leadoff barrel to centre field off the bat of Jalen Freeman who pushed for second base and was thrown out by Brody Gardner. The next batter, Grant Sommers, hit a double and Landry worked out of the jam with a groundout and fly out.
The Mavs took advantage of the Berries not scoring and put up a pair of runs, with an RBI single from Gardner and an RBI double from Nick Thibodeau.
Saskatoon did get on the board in the second with an RBI single to right field, making it a 2-1 game. That was as close as they got to a tie game, with the Mavs sprinkling on some runs.
They put up another two-spot, with a two-run third inning led by a solo shot from Gardner, his fifth home run of the season and an RBI double from Micah Dvorak.
Medicine Hat added four tallies in the fourth on a trio of singles for an 8-2 lead. Shortstop Johnny Vulcano plated two runs with an RBI single, second baseman Marshall Burke drove in a run with an RBI single and right fielder Jordan Phillips collected his 62nd RBI on the season with a single.
Landry was lifted after the fifth inning, allowing the lone run on eight hits with four punch-outs. He gave up five of the eight hits in the first two innings before settling in. Leo Woods took over and worked two frames, allowing just a hit and a walk, with one strikeout.
The Mavs put up a three-pack of runs in the eighth for the 11-run tally. Thibodeau had an RBI single to centre field for his 62nd on the season. Vulcano drove in a run with a sac fly to centre field and catcher Jaden Babiuk scored a run with a groundout.
Evan Gant took over on the mound in the eighth and worked the last two frames of the game, allowing one run on four hits, with a walk and four punch-outs as the Mavs held on for the 11-2 win.
The Mavs (33-21) host the Berries on Sunday for the final home game of the regular season. They’ll head to Swift Current on Monday to face the 57’s and have a day off on Tuesday before the playoffs get started on Wednesday at AP. With the last two games of the season meaningless in the standings, Mitchell is still looking for wins but more importantly, he wants to see the brand of baseball they’ll need come Game 1.
“We just need to be doing the right things, playing the game the right way, trusting our approach, all the things that will win us playoff baseball games,” Mitchell said. “That’s not always the case at the end of a long regular season, and these games are somewhat meaningless, at least in terms of seeding, but a team that has championship aspirations like this one can get better these last two days.
“Every day is an opportunity to get better and these last few days are a part of that. Especially because there’s nothing really on the line, like how do you show up when there’s nothing, like we did tonight. We were ready to go. That’s really what I’m looking for, it’s just that the guys come ready to play and they play hard.”
