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By Scott Roblin

Hit Parade

Mavericks show Millionaires no mercy, drive in 21 runs in series opener

Jul 27, 2019 | 10:52 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – There’s offensive explosions, and then there’s what the Medicine Hat Mavericks did at home on Friday night against the Melville Millionaires.

Scoring six runs alone in the opening inning of play, the Mavericks put on their best offensive performance of the 2019 WCBL season with a crushing 21-0 victory over Melville.

Short stop P.J. Garcia made the most of his game-high seven trips to the plate, leading Medicine Hat with four hits, three runs, and three RBIs in the team’s third consecutive victory.

After three quick Millionaires fly-outs to begin the game, the Mavericks raced out to an early 3-0 lead after a single from Austin Sojka and a double by Taylor Wright.

Wright was able to make it a 4-0 game by scoring on a wild pitch, before Reed Odland poked a single into right field that cashed in two more runners to put the game out of reach as quickly as it started.

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A Collin Klingensmith RBI double in the third inning scored Russell Strilchuck to make it a 7-0 score, before Strilchuck repaid the favour in the fourth inning to bring home Colton Wright.

Garcia continued his explosive night in the bottom of the fifth inning with an RBI single, which was followed up by ground-out from Sojka that scored Klingensmith to put the Mavericks into double-digits.

Up by 10 runs to begin the sixth, the Mavericks pushed on the gas pedal harder with a monster nine-run inning to fully take control of the game.

Back-to-back walks with the bases loaded brought across Medicine Hat’s 11th and 12th runs of the night, while the 13th run of the game came off another RBI single by Garcia.

That kicked off another hit parade by the Mavericks with Colton Wright, Taylor Wright, and Tito Jones subsequently all picking up RBI singles to boost Medicine Hat’s lead to 16.

Melville’s pitching struggles only intensified from this point, with Cameron Pope drawing a walk with the bases loaded and hometown product Zach Stark being hit by a pitch in the same spot.

Freddy Walker later hit into a fielder’s choice to bring home Jones from third base, which would be Medicine Hat’s final run of the marathon inning.

Garcia sprinkled a little more salt in the Millionaires wound with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, as the Mavericks rolled to their largest win of the year.

Aside from Strilchuck and Hunter Cooper, every hitter that stepped up to the plate for the Mavericks picked up at least one RBI on the evening.

Along with Garcia’s big night, the Mavericks also got multiple RBIs off the bats of Klingensmith, Walker, and Taylor Wright.

Just as dominant for Medicine Hat was starter Owen Steele, who pitched eight complete innings of two-hit baseball and fanned eight Melville hitters on the night.

Fans at Athletic Park also got the added treat of seeing hometown veteran and infielder Nolan Rattai make his pitching debut, throwing the last inning with no hits allowed and one strikeout.

Improving to a 25-21 mark on the season, the third-place Mavericks continue their series with Melville on Saturday night with a 7:05 pm tilt at Athletic Park.