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By Scott Roblin

Bombers Blanked

Wright’s grand slam highlights Mavs’ 14-0 stomping of Brooks

Jul 12, 2019 | 10:42 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – They may have been facing the Brooks Bombers on Friday night, but it was the Medicine Hat Mavericks hitting bombs in a 14-0 beat down on the road.

Seniors Austin Sojka and Colton Wright both went yard at Elks Stadium, while Mavericks starter Owen Steele pitched five innings of three-hit baseball to help Medicine Hat to a three-game win streak in the process.

After a scoreless first inning, Tito Jones picked up his first RBI in a Mavericks uniform with a one-out double that brought in Cameron Pope for the game’s first run.

One batter later with Freddy Walker at the dish, Medicine Hat benefitted off of a throwing error by Bombers short stop Clifford Pradd to score Jones and Collin Klingensmith.

Medicine Hat was able to add in three more runs in the top of the fourth inning, first from a single by Klingensmith that scored Colton Wright and Pope, followed by a sacrifice-fly from Freddy Walker.

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After pitching five innings of scoreless ball, Steele was replaced after the fifth inning with his final stat line showing zero earned runs given up on three hits and three strikeouts.

Hometown product Nathan Stark would get into a game for the first time this season replacing Steele, allowing just one hit over two innings of work.

On the sticks, the Mavericks exploded for the rest of their 14 runs in the seventh inning which began with a two-run homer off the bat of Sojka.

Up 7-0 at this point, Wright put the game completely out of reach by taking Brooks reliever Matt Scott deep for a grand-slam for his second home run of the season to reach double digits.

Brooks’s struggles continued a few batters later after loading up the bases, with Walker drawing a walk from Scott to make it a 13-0 game.

In his second trip to the plate in the seventh inning alone, Sojka flew one out to the outfield for a sacrifice-fly to bring home Klingensmith and the night’s final run.

Zach McDermott was able to close out the final two innings of the night for Medicine Hat, capping things off with a ground out in the ninth inning to give the Mavericks the two points.

Friday’s win was one of Medicine Hat’s best performances from the bullpen in recent memory, with Stark and McDermott allowing only one hit over the final four innings of play.

It was Wright and Sojka leading the charge offensively in the win, with their home runs and sacrifice-flies combining for half of the team’s runs batted in.

Stretching the win streak to three games, the Mavericks have now won eight of their last 10 contests and sit tied for third in the increasingly competitive Western Division with a 17-18 record.

Medicine Hat’s three-game set with the Bombers continues on Saturday night, as the Mavericks have a chance to get back to .500 on the season at Athletic Park beginning at 7:05 pm.