Bulls beat Mavs in 10 innings
LETHBRIDGE The Lethbridge Bulls have drawn first blood in the first round of their Western Major Baseball League series with the Medicine Hat Mavericks.
In a classic pitcher’s duel, the Bulls and Mavericks pushed Game 1 of their bestof-five series to extra innings before Lethbridge’s Jesse Hilyard struck the game-winning hit that scored Ryan Pouwells with one out in the bottom of the 10th for a 3-2 win.
Brady Moxham went the full nine innings before giving way to Louis Corral in the 10th, while Mavericks ace Jared Libke went the distance for the visitors.
After Pouwells led off the 10th by reaching on an error and made it to third on a sacrifice bunt from Blake MacDonald, the table was set for Hilyard.
“I said it was going to be a battle between these two teams and it was,” said Bulls head coach Jesse Sawyer. “It was back and forth. It was close, it was tight-scoring, good defence, great pitching on both sides. It was a great game to be a part of.”
Corrall took the win, but Moxham allowed two runs on six hits in nine innings work, walking three and striking out six.
“I have nothing but great things (to say),” said Sawyer of his starter. ”He’s been one of our horses all year. I know he was pumped up for that game and he came out and performed. He got out of a couple of jams, me made some great pitches.” Libke was equally impressive, allowing three runs on 10 hits, walking four and striking out nine.
“He was fantastic out there,” said Mavericks head coach Michael Thompson. “That was part of the reason why I let him go back out in the 10th.
“His pitch count was still down. He was spot-on with everything. We need to do a better job playing defence behind him. If we do that, we probably win the game.”
The Bulls took a 1-0 lead in the first when regular season home run and RBI leader Alex Bishop singled to right field to score Brett Semeniuk from second.
Lethbridge loaded the bases with two out in the second but Libke was able to get Pouwells to ground out.
The Mavericks led off the fourth with back-to-back singles from Louie Canjura and Blake Rowlett. Chris Caffrey singled home Canjura, but Rowlett was called out at home after tagging up on a Zack Kunkel fly out to left.
The big defensive plays continued in the bottom of the fourth as Nolan Handley doubled to right field and tried to stretch it to a triple, but was gunned down by Kunkel.
“That’s what you expect from the playoffs...” – Michael Thompson
David Salgueiro walked and later scored on passed ball for a 2-1 Mavericks lead in the sixth.
Lethbridge pulled even in the eighth when left fielder Jaxson Hooge misplayed a ball, scoring Pouwells. They nearly won in the ninth but Witbeck was thrown out by Hooge at home.
“It was a great game. It was so similar to last year’s first game in Medicine Hat,” said Sawyer, reminiscing about the Mavs’ 10-inning win which also saw Libke go the distance. “We turned the script this year. It was eerily similar.”
Greg Hollman will get the start for the Bulls in Game 2 tonight, while the Mavericks will go with Brady Tedesco.
Thompson wouldn’t be surprised if it’s another close one.
“That’s what you expect from the playoffs, their best versus our best,” said Thompson. “It was a dogfight to the very end. They both pitched their tails off. We didn’t end up on the right side of this one, but it could have gone either way.”