Mavericks excited for playoff baseball
Playoff baseball is back in Medicine Hat.
After having the opportunity to clinch their spot for roughly a week, the Mavericks finally punched their ticket to the postseason Friday with a 10-4 win over the Weyburn Beavers at Athletic Park. They concluded their regular season a night later with a 10-2 loss in Medicine Hat to the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
They opened their first round, best-of-three series, against the Regina Red Sox, a rematch of the 2018 WMBL final, won by the Mavericks.
Game 1 of the series was Monday, that contest was not complete by time of press, visit medicinehatnews.com/sports for a full game story.
Game 2 of the opening series is tonight at Athletic Park, a moment Mavericks head coach Tyler Jeske said he’s been waiting for all season, to see playoff baseball in the Hat.
“It’s a passionate fan base here to begin with and throughout the year, when you finish 18-38, you feel that passion and intensity at times. But the biggest thing too, is they’re smart fans,’ Jeske said. “They understand the game, there’s experience there. At the end of the day, this is a baseball city that has a lot of passion for the Mavericks and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Five members of the Mavericks roster, Nathan and Zach Stark, Bryce Libke, Garrett Nicholson and Hunter Cooper were on the team in 2019 that lost to the Lethbridge Bulls. Nathan is the lone active Maverick that was a part of the 2018 championship team. He says he is excited for the intensity that comes during the postseason and has told any teammates asking to expect the unexpected come the playoffs.
“You’ll see pretty much everything in the playoffs and especially with a lot of guys on each team leaving, guys are kind of thrown off,” Stark said. “Right now, just expect the unexpected and be ready to go.”
The Mavericks enter the playoffs a little shorthanded due to players returning to school early or injuries adding up. Jeske said the last two weeks of the regular season showed him how resilient the Mavericks can be with a smaller roster.
“We’ve had a lot of guys leave and dealt with some injuries, dealt with guys been unavailable for various reasons and they showed their resiliency and their ability to adapt and change positions on the fly,” Jeske said. “There’s a game in Weyburn that really stands out where we won and Isaiah Bartel started on the mound. After that, we went to (Nate) Ewing and it was double switches, essentially playing musical chairs defensively with every pitching change to try to keep our best lineup out there in combination with our best defence.”
Mavericks assistant coach Michael Forgione, who won the 2014 WMBL championship with the Mavs, said it was great they could reach the playoffs for the fans that have supported them through the year.
“I know the community has a lot of support for this team and our owner Greg (Morrison) does a really good job of supporting this team,” Forgione said. “Doing it for the community and for Greg making playoffs because it’s the Medicine Hat Mavericks, they usually make playoffs, being on that teeter-totter, are we going to make it are we not going to? It’s a little stressful at times. But these guys just put their heads down and worked hard.”
When asked for a player he’s looking at to step up and have a big playoffs, Jeske tabbed catcher Zach Stark and his leadership through the season. Before the team’s clinching win on Friday, Stark was one of the Mavs who spoke up during a players-only meeting held minutes before first pitch.
He said his message then was about reassurance that the results would come.
“I could see some guys starting to get discouraged, some guys wondering why results aren’t happening and I just reassured the guys that it’s going to come and stay disciplined within yourself, stay disciplined out there,” Stark said.
Jeske has experience being on a coaching staff in a playoff race, being one step from the College World Series in 2017 before winning a summer league later that season. He said he’s not fazed by post-season baseball and is looking forward to the challenge.
“I’ve experienced it at the end of the day. If you get too hyped for it as a player, you can’t try harder, you can’t try to reinvent the wheel,” Jeske said. “You just have to go play your game and feed off of the energy and the buzz in the ballpark from the fan base.”
Game 2 at Athletic Park gets underway at 7:05 p.m. tonight, with Game 3 back in Regina Wednesday night if necessary.