Dawgs’ collapse complete after Game 5 loss to Mavs
Okotoks drops three straight after winning first two games of series
In Medicine Hat, it’s being viewed as a sweet comeback, but in Okotoks it goes down as a brutal collapse.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks, who appeared to be dead in the water after two losses to open the series, completed a three- game comeback Thursday to clinch their Western Major Baseball League opening round match against the Okotoks Dawgs.
The reigning WMBL champs advanced with a 7- 3 road win after pounding Okotoks 11- 6 and 11- 5 in Games 3 and 4, bringing some serious nervous energy to the stands of Seaman Stadium on Thursday night.
It marks the second straight year the Mavericks have knocked the Dawgs out of the post- season under second- year coach Brett Thomas. In 2014 they did it in the second round.
Thomas was a member of the three- peat Dawgs champions from 2007- 09, which was the last time Okotoks claimed supremacy over the college summer league.
“I’m still extremely proud of these guys,” Thomas said. “Obviously things didn’t go our way and we could have done some things differently, but the fight in this team for five games is incredible.”
Medicine Hat scored twice in the fifth inning, once in the sixth, three more times in the seventh and, for good measure, added another on a wild pitch in the ninth.
They struck with a pair of solo home runs in the fifth off Okotoks starter Dylan Nelson, who was the Game 1 winner and was in control through the first four innings on Thursday as he allowed just a pair of singles,
Diminutive Medicine Hat second baseman Ryan Kemp led off the inning with a line drive over the left- field wall. Brody Hawkins, who plays for the University of British Columbia, put a pitch in the same spot two batters later.
Kemp’s dribbler down the first base line scored Ryan Helgren in the sixth. Kemp was hardly an offensive force in the regular season with two home runs and a .209 batting average but he hit .400 with six RBIs in this series.
The Dawgs got all three runs back in the sixth. Matt Morrow scored on a wild pitch, Brian Sisler scored from second when right- fielder Jose Cruz dropped a fly and Dane Tofteland drove in Brendan Hendriks with a single up the middle. Tofteland was the only Dawg with multiple hits on the night with a 3- for- 4 performance.
Nelson was left in until the seventh, when he loaded the bases and was replaced by another UBC pitcher, Jeremy Newton, who promptly surrendered a two- run double to Bryan Arthur. A bad bounce grounder that eluded second baseman Sisler brought in the third run in the inning for a 6- 3 lead.
Nelson’s line: nine hits and five earned runs in 6.1 innings. His counterpart, Zac Wittmus, went five innings, giving up three runs, two of those earned.
The Dawgs loaded the bases in the eighth inning but catcher Nick Studer hit the first pitch into Cruz’s glove in right field.
In the Okotoks’ ninth, Thomas Rodrigues struck out, Morrow doubled and took third on a wild pitch. Daniel Fredrickson popped out and Sisler walked before Hendricks flew out to end the game.
Cruz, Arthur, Kemp and Hawkins all had two hits for Medicine Hat, who had 11 as a team.
Medicine Hat now faces the Lethbridge Bulls in the second round. The other semifinal pits the Weyburn Beavers against the Regina Red Sox.