MaverickspowerpastBulls9-4
MAVS LEAD BEST-OFFIVE SEMIFINAL SERIES 2-1; GAME 4 TONIGHT
The regular season doesn't matter come playoffs.
That's what the Lethbridge Bulls were telling the Medicine Hat Mavericks. Until the top of the fourth inning came around on Thursday night.
That’s when the Mavs promptly hit two of their three home runs on the night on their way to a 9-4 win in Game 3 of the 2018 WMBL West Division semifinals at Spitz Stadium.
Mavericks lead the best-of-five series 2-1.
Mavs’ left fielder Jaxson Hogge had a three-run shot in the fourth, while first baseman Zach Gray had a solo home run, also in the fourth. DH Sal Rodriguez added a two-run deep ball in the seventh, with the home runs combining for six of the runs and three of the Mavs’ 16 hits.
Five of the Bulls’ nine hits came from Kaleb Warden and Blake MacDonald. Bulls starting pitcher Jesse Hilyard had six strikeouts but gave up 12 hits in six innings for the loss.
Earning the win was Mavs’ starting pitcher Jumpei Akanuma, who threw 50 pitches through two innings, but managed to hold the Bulls to three runs through six innings of work.
Medicine Hat took an early lead when Rodriguez scored Carson Johnson on a two-out single in the top of the first. Lethbridge answered in the bottom half of one when MacDonald lined a shot to centre to score Ashton Roy and Warden. He then got thrown out at second.
Nick Ankermann hit into a RBI fielder’s choice to score DH Dustin Braun to give the Bulls a 3-1 lead in the bottom of two. Then the top of fourth happened. Gray hit a home run beyond right field to cut the lead to 3-2, before a bloop single by Louie Canjura and a walk by Jordan Dray. Hooge stepped up, dismissed the DJ’s song choice poking fun at his long blond hair, and hit a three-run home run beyond left centre.
“The team puts you in a position like that, you just look for a good pitch to hit and try to put a good swing on it,” said Hooge, who went 3-for-4 at the plate.
“They had a good fourth inning there,” said Bulls manager Jesse Sawyer.
“We came out hot and then our bats kind of went cold. We stuck with them there for a bit, then they just pulled away with a couple good swings. We got their starter’s pitch count up, but he settled in.”
Nolan Rattai hit a one-out single in the sixth, then scored after a fielder’s choice by Dray and a hit-and-run single by Canjura to put the Mavs up 6-3.
A possible Bulls rally in the bottom of the sixth came after a double down the left field line by MacDonald, then both Braun and catcher Carter Witbeck being hit by pitches. But right fielder Ankermann struck out to end the inning.
“We had some chances late in the game,” Sawyer said. “We just couldn’t get that clutch hit when we needed it. That’s the difference.”
A Colton Wright RBI double to right centre scored Johnson to give the Mavs a 7-3 lead in the seventh, then Rodriguez hit a two-run home run to deep left centre for a 9-3 lead.
Mavs pitcher Sean Cruz, who came on in the seventh, walked Braun and Jaret Semeniuk in the bottom of the eighth before Braun scored on a throwing error to cut the lead to 9-4.
But that was as close as the Bulls would get. The Mavs brought in Tyler Shumpert to pitch the ninth to close it off in a non-save situation.
Hooge said they’ll need more of the same effort tonight in order to win the series.
“We just need to keep fighting at the plate, on the mound, and take care of business defensively,” he said.
“We’re going to go out there tomorrow and give it everything we’ve got and see if we can get it back to Med Hat for Game 5,” Sawyer said.
Game 4 goes tonight at Spitz Stadium at 7:05 p.m.
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