Mavericks unleash bats in rout of host Prospects
Offensive display leads to 14-3 victory, giving Medicine Hat 2-1 lead in East final
The Edmonton skies have been smoky all week courtesy of forest fires in British Columbia, but after the Medicine Hat Mavericks were finished with the Edmonton Prospects on Wednesday night, the skies were even more hazy.
The Mavericks weren’t messing around against the Prospects as their offence exploded in a 14-3 victory in front of 1,923 fans at Re/Max Field to take a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-five Western Major Baseball League East Division final.
Game 4 goes Thursday at 7 p.m., once again at Edmonton’s rivervalley ballpark.
“They hit us hard and sometimes that happens and we couldn’t get them out the next inning. Twelve runs in two innings just breaks your back,” Prospects manager Ray Brown said following the game.
“If we give up one big inning and it’s 6-3, we have a chance to come back, but you can’t give up two big innings like that. It gave us no chance. We have to start fresh tomorrow. This has happened before. We’ve had bad losses and came back and won, and we’ll have to do it again tomorrow. We just have to pitch a lot better tomorrow.”
One night after the Prospects staved off a wild comeback attempt by the Mavericks in a 7-6 victory, they fell apart in a big way.
Edmonton held a 3-0 lead heading into the fourth inning, but Medicine Hat’s bats caught fire for back-to-back six-run innings.
Mavericks right fielder Zack Gray got their offence rolling, hitting a two-run homer off Prospects starter Connor Burns.
The tough times continued for Edmonton as the Mavericks sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth. Jaxson Hooge’s RBI double off the wall cleared the bases and gave Medicine Hat a 5-3 lead, ending Burns’ night.
Burns lasted just 32/3 innings, giving up five runs and seven hits, and striking out just two batters.
Burns, who won Game 2 of the Prospects’ opening-round series against the Okotoks Dawgs, looked strong early, but he and the rest of the team hit a brick wall in the fourth and fifth innings, and the Mavericks pounded the baseball all over Re/Max Field.
Chase Morris came to the pitcher’s mound in relief of Burns, but the Prospects’ struggles just wouldn’t end.
David Salgueiro hit a hard liner that Prospects second baseman Tony Olson had trouble handling, and that scored Hooge easily from second base.
Eleven Mavericks batters saw the plate in the fifth inning, and Gray and Hooge were key contributors again, but Carson Johnson and Sal Rodriguez joined the offensive explosion as Rodriguez hit a double in the gap to make it 8-3 and Johnson hit a two-out single to make it 12-3.
The Prospects had to be feeling good after they tied the series in Game 2 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday.
They started the game off strong, scoring three runs in the first inning.
Olson and Michael Gahan hit back-to-back singles, and Nick Spillman, who was making his return to the lineup after missing Games 1 and 2, drove in Olson on an RBI single.
Anthony Cusati continued his red-hot playoffs with an RBI triple. Cusati would score on a Daylen Calicdan ground-ball out.
Offensively, the Prospects could only muster six hits off the Mavericks. Cusati was the only Prospects hitter with a multi-hit game.
After getting to Mavericks starter Jumpei Akanuma in the first inning, the Japanese right-hander settled down. Akanuma pitched seven innings, giving up six hits and striking out three.
The Mavericks — the WMBL’s highest-scoring team — had 17 hits, with six players recording multiple hits. Gray and Rodriguez led the Mavs with three hits each.
The Prospects’ bullpen was worked over as it went through Morris, Jordan Smith, Brandon Wuin and veteran Scott Gillespie. SKID ENDS: The Mavericks’ victory ended a four-game playoff losing skid at Re/Max Field. The last two seasons, the Prospects were 4-0 at home against Medicine Hat in the WMBL semifinal.