Mavs down Bulls in Game 5
didn’t have the answers. It was one of those nights.”
After a scoreless first inning, the Mavs counted for four runs in the second inning for all the offence they would need.
Meanwhile, Libke rendered Lethbridge hitless until Bulls catcher Carter Witbeck broke up the no-hit bid with a twoout single to right field in the seventh.
The Bulls managed a bit of a threat in the fourth inning when Alex Bishop drew a twoout walk and Dylan Flasch reached first on an error to shortstop, but Libke fanned Witbeck to end the inning.
He worked through two more hitless innings until Witbeck ended the bid in the seventh.
With Brady Tedesco coming on to work the ninth for the Mavericks, the Bulls made a final push with back-to-back walks to Brett Semeniuk and Ryan Pouwells.
Bishop moved both runners up 90 feet with a groundout to first and Semeniuk scored on a sacrfice fly from Flasch, but Tedesco got Witbeck to ground out to third to end the game.
Libke gave up the one hit, walked four and struck out six.
“I felt good,” said Libke. “Obviously the defence behind me helps. Being able to get 96 pitches through eight innings, I wasn’t striking guys out. The defence was really good out there.”
Libke pitched 10 innings in Game 1 on Tuesday night before the Bulls walked him off in extra innings for the series-opening win.
The local pitcher knows a thing or two about the storied Bulls/Mavericks rivalry.
“Up and down,” said Libke. “Every time we play these guys it’s a battle. It’s never really a blow out. There’s just so much emotion going into every game. You feel drained.”
Drained or not, Mavericks head coach Michael Thompson tipped his hat to his starter.
“It just took a fantastic performance from Jared, coming off the short rest,” said Thompson. “We always joke that he has a rubber arm and he can throw every day, as many pitches as he wants. Tonight, he was masterful on the mound. He did a fantastic job. It was a great job by the Bulls, they gave us a run for our money all five games. It was always eventful every inning, pins and needleds. The stress from this series was insurmountable, but you can’t say enough about what Jared did for us. He really set the tone and carried a no-hitter into the seventh.”
And when Mavs needed to back up their pitcher, they delivered.
“That’s a big part of it,” said Thompson.
“Any time a guy has a nohitter going it’s not because he’s striking everybody, it’s because the defence is making some good plays behind him. Our defence played really well this series and stepped it up. Our offence has kind of carried us all year, but today and in this whole series it was pitching and defence, which was incredible to see because we hadn’t had that all year.”
Liam Sabiston took the loss for the Bulls, going six and one-third innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking
Trey Baillie was 2-for-2 for Medicine Hat with one run scored and two RBI.
For Quebec, Santiago Sanchez had an RBI.
Action continues today at Spitz Stadium beginning at noon when Alberta takes on Ontario.
At 3:30 p.m. B.C. takes the field against the Maritimes before the Junior Bulls wrap up the day when they face Quebec at 7 p.m.