Not the underdogs, not the favourites
Mavericks riding high after sweep of Sox, now face Miller Express in WCBL East final starting Friday
The Medicine Hat Mavericks were in control during their East division semifinals against the Regina Red Sox.
The Mavericks completed the sweep of the best-of-three series Tuesday night with a 3-2 win in Game 2. Through the 18 innings of the series, the Mavericks — who entered the series as the fourth seed in the division — only trailed the first place Red Sox for one frame.
After the Mavericks win, head coach Tyler Jeske said they never saw themselves as the underdog in the series.
“We’ve played competitive, tough games throughout the season,” Jeske said. “We lost a lot of games late, lost a lot of games on errors or through the bullpen. I look at it as we’re all growing. We’re not the underdogs and we’re not the favourites either. This is a new season, we have to go out and earn it.”
Tuesday’s game marked the return of playoff baseball to Medicine Hat since 2019. Jeske said he could feel the pain and excitement throughout the stadium.
“I was shocked when I was walking back into the clubhouse to go get changed and people are already sitting in their seats,” Jeske said. “Even around town this past week, I’ve walked into Tim Hortons and I don’t think there’s been a day where I haven’t seen somebody wearing something that says Mavericks on it. I think this baseball team is for the community, these guys play hard night-in and night-out and that’s what these fans deserve. That’s what these fans expect and it’s really good baseball.”
A big part of the team’s success against Regina was the Hat pitching staff keeping the Red Sox at bay enough for the offence to get on the board. Medicine Hat pitchers recorded a, 4.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts versus Regina while only walking four batters and without surrendering a home run.
Jeske said before the series that pitching would be their strong suit and reiterated the sentiment ahead of their bestof-three East Division final matchup against the Moose Jaw Miller Express, which opens Friday night in Moose Jaw. “The thing that jumps out to me is their starting pitching has been strong throughout the season. They have some bullpen pieces that can shut games down and their offence is one of the best in the league,” Jeske said.
“They play in a ballpark where the ball flies, they can put up runs quick. If we keep them in the ballpark, we can contain their offence, we play fundamental baseball, we have competitive at-bats — we just have to grind out at-bats and apply constant pressure and force them to get deep into their pitching staff.”
In Medicine Hat’s Game 1 win, Jeske utilized two starters, with Garrett Nicholson starting the game and Gerrit Erickson finishing the contest. A variation of the same strategy was used Tuesday, with reliever Isaiah Bartels starting the game and handing the ball off to starter Zac Robinson before another starting pitcher in Mathew Krall closed out the game.
Jeske told the News Thursday having pitchers who are willing to pass the ball off and share the success is a key part of the team’s momentum.
“The big thing that makes baseball so fascinating to me is the key game is very dependent on individual performance but any of those individual performances in isolation, doesn’t win a team a game,” Jeske said. “At the end of the day, you need nine hitters in a lineup who are working together, you need a pitching staff that understands this is how we’re going to collectively combine to get 27 outs and be in a position to win a baseball game.”
Robinson, who earned the win on the mound for the Mavericks Tuesday, said it’s about the pitchers just being competitors.
“We all sit in that locker room, we all go out and it doesn’t matter. I was starting games, Bartys’ usually a reliever and we just flipped it. Nobody cared, who cares?” Robinson said. “Barty has a better ERA than I do. As long as I go out there and I provide, and Barty or the guy in front of me provides and I can go out and do my part, that’s all that matters.”
Game 1 of the East Division final gets underway Friday in Moose Jaw at 7:05 p.m. before Game 2 returns to Medicine Hat and Athletic Park on Saturday. Jeske said he is already looking forward to that 7:05 p.m. home contest.
“The community has been strong throughout the season. I’m expecting Saturday night to be no different,” Jeske said. “To me, there won’t be a better place to be in Medicine Hat on a Saturday night than Athletic Park.”