Winning run walks in as Mavs drop first half of doubleheader

With their ace on the mound and the league’s best hitting lineup behind him, the Medicine Hat Mavericks had every reason to be confident.

Alas, the 3-2 loss to the Fort McMurray Giants was not how they envisioned the opening game of Thursday’s doubleheader.

Jared Libke went seven innings, striking out six but leaving the score tied in his team’s first action in the northern Alberta city. Blake Rowlett’s seventh-inning double keyed the only two runs of the game for the visitors, though he hit another double in the ninth. This time, however, he was stranded at third while Giants reliever Trevor Bauer struck out Colton Wright and Zach Kunkel to get out of the jam.

Alex Nolan limited Mavs hitters to three hits — two of them from Rowlett — in eight innings. But neither starting pitcher got a decision.

Medicine Hat’s Taylor Wilson was saddled with the loss when he walked two Giants and hit a third, the winning run coming in on a bases loaded, two-out walk.

Mavs win 7-5

In the late second game of the doubleheader, Medicine Hat won 7-5.

Caleb Longley’s two-run home run in the first got the Mavs off to the start they missed in the early game, then Rowlett doubled home a pair in the second. Jackson Hooge’s solo shot in the third grew the lead.

Starter Connor Deeds went five innings, allowing four hits for the win. Fort McMurray touched reliever Justin Simonek for three runs in the sixth but Talon Kunkel, then two innings from Barry Caine shut the door.

Medicine Hat is now 8-8 while Fort McMurray is 5-11.