By Scott Roblin

Mavericks put on show in return home against Melville

Jun 29, 2017 | 11:19 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Not a bad way to return from a season-long road trip for the Medicine Hat Mavericks (12-11), as they picked up an 11-5 victory over the Melville Millionaires (5-17) on Thursday night.

After blanking the Mils in the top of the first inning, the Mavericks went to work with a single from Chris Caffrey and a Colton Wright walk bringing in three runs.

That 3-0 lead was short-lived for Medicine Hat however, with the Millionaires getting two runs in the second and one in the third to tie it up at 3-3.

Bottom of the third with Caffrey on third base, Jacob Leal popped up a sacrifice fly to the outfield but was able to bring home his teammate to give the Mavericks the lead once again.

Melville’s bats came alive one again in the fifth inning, as Marshall McPherson launched his fifth home run of the season off Barry Caine to tie the game again at 4-4.

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Another homer for the Millionaires in the following inning courtesy of Austin Stokes, who racked up his first jack of the season to put Melville in the driver’s seat for the first time on Thursday.

The doors to Athletic Park were blown off in the bottom half of the sixth however, starting with a walk to Caffrey with the bases loaded to bring in a run and make it a 5-5 game.

A Leal double to the outfield brought in three runs for the Mavericks, while the next batter in Chris Rodriguez drove in Leal to give the home side a huge 9-5 lead and all the momentum.

To put an exclamation mark on the evening, Blake Rowlett put bat to ball in the seventh inning for his second home run of the year, a two-run shot to give the Mavericks an 11-5 lead and the eventual win.

The offence stepped up on Thursday night for Medicine Hat, raking in 14 hits with every member of the starting lineup reaching base.

Leal had one of his best games of the season, going 2-4 at the plate with 4 RBIs and one run scored.

Caine registered his first win of the season with a five and two-thirds innings appearance in relief of starter Nathan Stark, who left the game in the third inning.

Thursday’s final stat line for Caine had two earned runs given up on three hits with six strikeouts.

Medicine Hat remains in fourth place in the WMBL’s Western Division, and will try to string together a win streak with the back half of their mini-series with Melville going on Friday.

First pitch from Athletic Park is scheduled for 7:05 pm.