Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

By Scott Roblin

Big Swings

Mavericks throw the hammer down offensively to sweep Miller Express

Jul 20, 2019 | 11:36 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A cold evening in July was answered by a hot night on the bats from the Medicine Hat Mavericks, dismantling the visiting Moose Jaw Miller Express on Saturday night.

Trailing 4-2 midway through the fifth inning, the Mavericks exploded for 13 runs over the next four innings to win their second straight game over the Miller Express 15-5.

Every member of Medicine Hat’s lineup earned a hit in the victory, as the home side peppered Moose Jaw with 17 hits on the night with four coming off the barrel of Collin Klingensmith.

Lead-off man Austin Sojka got the Athletic Park crowd to its feet early, taking the third pitch of the game deep for the solo home run to open the scoring.

Medicine Hat’s lead doubled two innings later with an error charged to Miller Express third baseman Ty Lightly, allowing Sojka to score and make it a 2-0 game.

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After a Zach Campbell home run in the fourth inning put Moose Jaw ahead by a 3-2 count, Cole Warken connected on a Brandon Ponticelli pitch for an RBI single.

Moose Jaw’s lead was quickly erased in the bottom half of the inning however, with infielders P.J. Garcia and Sal Rodriguez both coming through with clutch singles to tie the game at 4-4.

A Tito Jones sacrifice-fly and a Miller Express error put Medicine Hat back in the lead 6-4 in the sixth, before a series of wild pitches and walks cashed in three more Mavericks runs out of the seventh inning stretch.

If it hadn’t before, Saturday’s game flew right off the wall in a marathon eighth inning that saw Medicine Hat send 12 hitters to the plate and score six runs off Moose Jaw.

Klingensmith, Garcia, Nolan Rattai, and Hunter Cooper all came through with RBIs in their final at-bats of the night, gifting the Mavericks with the victory by 10 runs.

Spreading out the offence, four Mavericks including Klingensmith, Cooper, Sojka, and Garcia combined for eight of the team’s 15 runs on the night.

Ponticelli lasted five innings on the mound for Medicine Hat before being pulled, given a no-decision after allowing four earned runs on six hits with four punch outs.

Utility player Taylor Wright only pitched one inning in relief of Ponticelli, however the senior was handed the win in just his second WCBL appearance on the mound.

Newcomer Liam Rosebeck and Junior Pimentel closed things out for Medicine Hat over the final three innings, allowing only two combined hits over that span.

Winners of eight of their last 10, the streaking Mavericks now hold a 22-20 record and are half a game back of Lethbridge for second place in the Western Division.

With just two weeks left in the regular season, Medicine Hat will enjoy two days off before venturing to the province’s capital on Tuesday night for a two-game set with the Edmonton Prospects.