BY JAMES TUBB ON JULY 7, 2022.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks looked like a whole new ball club Thursday night.
Besides the brand new black jerseys they debuted, the Mavericks did the opposite of what they’ve done all week as they comeback from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Regina Red Sox 6-5 at Athletic Park.
The Mavericks entered the contest on the heels of two straight losses to Regina at AP, including a 7-0 shutout defeat Wednesday night. Head coach Tyler Jeske said the win was outstanding and showed a lot about what the Mavericks can do.
“We got off to a slower start, we got down five nothing but it was that second inning,” Jeske said.
The Red Sox scored four runs in the second frame after a one out error put on a runner on second base and a two out error scored a run and allowed another runner to get on base. Jeske said he looked at that moment as a chance for his players to show how much they want to win.
“It starts off with an error and a walk and I was sitting there going, okay let’s see what these boys are made of. Let’s see how we dig, how far do we dig. We dig deep and we come out of it and go, now we’re gonna win this ballgame. There’s plenty of time left and an outstanding job I thought playing 27 outs.”
Mavericks starter Mathew Krall worked four innings, including the bloated second frame and giving up a solo home run in the fourth. He had three strikeouts in his outing. Hunter Boylan was tasked with the relief duties as he worked three and a third scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
Boylan tipped his cap to the defence behind him in his outing.
“Just going out there and competing, one pitch at a time, one guy at a time and then you’ll see what happens,” Boylan said. “The defence behind me tonight, it was awesome, guys making plays, it was fun to be out there.”
The Mavericks started chipping away at the lead in the fourth as shortstop Nate Ewing had a triple that became an in the park home run due to errors and second basemen Deon Reese knocked in a run on a sacrifice hit.
With Boylan holding Regina at bay, the Mavs struck again in the sixth inning scoring three runs. Catcher Zach Stark scored on an error by the Red Sox pitcher before third basemen Tory Nelson scored on an RBI single from right fielder Kellan Williamson. Centre fielder David Dell knocked in the third run with a hit that caused another Regina error, one of their sixth in the game.
The Mavericks took the lead in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice infield hit from designated hitter Nate Ade.
Boylan got one out in the eighth inning before a double brought Ewing in from shortstop to close out the game. The 20-year-old utility man worked three strikeouts as he picked up five outs in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the game and pick up the Mavericks win.
Ewing also led the Mavericks offensively with three hits, a RBI and two runs scored. He said he couldn’t remember any other game where he had that much success on both sides of the ball.
“I honestly don’t know a time I was ever actually dominant on both sides at the same time,” Ewing said. “It’s usually one or the other, pitching or hitting or infield in general. So I can’t say I’ve had a game like this before in my life.”
Jeske described Ewing as unbelievable and said he’s been outstanding for them all season.
“He impacts all sides of the ball, he’s just a competitor like he’s a straight competitor, real glad to have him on our team…,” Jeske said.
Both Ewing and Boylan were complimentary of the Mavericks new jerseys that Jeske said arrived to the club Wednesday.
“I want to sleep in it tonight,” Boylan said. “Honestly, it smells a little bad but I’ll wear it for sure.”
The Mavericks(12-18) take the win on the road as they embark on a six day read trip through Alberta and Saskatchewan starting Friday in Sylvan Lake against the Gulls.
Jeske said the win has him even more excited for the road trip as he is looking forward to the group getting closer while also hopefully picking up some wins.
“We have what I view is a critical road trip where we could really turn the page and say this is the start of this of the snowball going downhill,” Jeske said. “We fought our way back uphill, now let’s get the snowball rolling downhill.”
Game Date: 07/07/2022
Regina Red Sox 5 AT Medicine Hat Mavericks 6
YTD YTD
Regina AB R H BI AVG MedicineHat AB R H BI AVG
Edmands, D 3B 3 1 0 0 .232 Williamson, K RF 5 1 1 1 .330
Zielinski, Z SS 5 0 0 2 .244 Dell, D CF 4 0 0 1 .247
Kenney, M 2B 3 0 1 0 .446 Desonia, B CF 0 0 0 0 .352
Bachiu, J 2B 1 0 0 0 .125 Cooper, H 1B 5 0 2 0 .290
Bach, N CF 4 1 1 1 .309 Ewing, N P,SS 4 2 3 1 .259
Johnson, T 1B 4 0 1 0 .220 Ade, N DH,SS 3 1 0 1 .290
Keller, K RF 3 1 0 0 .284 Stark, Z C 3 1 1 0 .214
Zinter, M PH 1 0 0 0 .221 Nelson, T 3B 3 1 2 0 .231
Taylor, C DH 3 1 0 0 .238 Reese, D 2B 4 0 1 1 .209
Alaniz, J C 4 0 2 1 .196 Stark, J LF 4 0 0 0 .308
Lecroy, M LF 4 1 1 1 .300
35 5 6 5 35 6 10 5
Regina 0 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 6 6
MedicineHat 0 0 0 2 0 3 1 0 x - 6 10 2
2B--Johnson, T 1B (7), Alaniz, J C (2). 3B--Ewing, N P,SS (2). HR--Bach, N
CF (6). RBI--Zielinski, Z SS 2 (15), Bach, N CF (31), Alaniz, J C (8),
Lecroy, M LF (7), TOTALS 5 (0), Williamson, K RF (20), Dell, D CF (13),
Ewing, N P,SS (11), Ade, N DH,SS (21), Reese, D 2B (6), TOTALS 5 (0).
HP--Desonia, B CF (5). SB--Edmands, D 3B (6), Lecroy, M LF (8), Stark, Z C
(1). E--Edmands, D 3B (10), Kenney, M 2B 2 (2), Bachiu, J 2B (3), Alaniz, J
C (2), Tenney, P P (2), Ewing, N P,SS (5), Nelson, T 3B (2).
LOB--Regina 6, MedicineHat 9. DP--J. Bachiu(2B) - Z. Zielinski(SS) - T.
Johnson(1B).
YTD
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Regina
Tenney, P 5.2 9 5 2 2 7 0 2.20
Martina, K (L,0-1) 1.1 1 1 1 1 1 0 6.75
Pollon, Z 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5.09
8 10 6 3 3 10 0
MedicineHat
Krall, M 4.0 5 5 1 2 3 1 6.87
Boylan, H 3.1 1 0 0 0 2 0 4.15
Ewing, N (W,1-1) 1.2 0 0 0 1 3 0 2.57
9 6 5 1 3 8 1
PB--Stark, Z. HB--Pollon, Z (2). SO--Kenney, M, Bach, N, Keller, K 2,
Zinter, M, Taylor, C 2, Lecroy, M, Williamson, K 2, Dell, D 2, Ade, N,
Stark, Z 2, Nelson, T, Stark, J 2. BB--Edmands, D 2, Taylor, C, Ade, N,
Stark, Z, Nelson, T. BF--Tenney, P 28 (134), Martina, K 7 (7), Pollon, Z 4
(78), Krall, M 21 (83), Boylan, H 11 (40), Ewing, N 6 (47). P-S--Tenney, P
110-76, Martina, K 26-17, Pollon, Z 12-9, Krall, M 73-50, Boylan, H 43-33,
Ewing, N 29-15.
T--2:36. A--1050
Weather: 26*C Cloudy
Plate Umpire - Brandon Oberg, Field Umpire #1 - Matt Benn, Field Umpire #3 - Levi Wagner