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By Scott Roblin

Wright Moves

Wright comes alive for four RBIs, Mavericks dominate Melville for second straight night

Jul 27, 2019 | 10:20 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – One night after P.J. Garcia took over at the plate for the Medicine Hat Mavericks, it was Taylor Wright’s turn on Saturday.

Facing off against the slumping Melville Millionaires for the second straight game, it was another display of force offensively for Medicine Hat with a 16-2 victory at Athletic Park.

Hitting out of the designated hitter spot on Saturday, it was a four-RBI performance from Wright that led the charge on the stick for Medicine Hat’s fourth consecutive victory.

Fresh off a 21-0 beat down against Melville, it was the Mavericks getting out to another early lead with a Garcia RBI-single and a Millionaires error giving Medicine Hat a 3-0 lead after one inning.

The good vibes kept rolling one inning later with a sacrifice-fly by Garcia cashing in Tito Jones, before a single off the barrel of Nolan Rattai allowed Collin Klingensmith to score.

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With runners on first and second Wright stepped to the dish and corked a three-run shot, his second home run of the WCBL season to make it an 8-0 Mavericks lead.

Medicine Hat’s bats kept swinging in the third inning with RBI-singles courtesy of Klingensmith and Sal Rodriguez, followed by a sacrifice-fly by Wright to left field to bring home Rattai.

Leading by 12 runs at this point, Klingensmith closed out the fourth inning with his second RBI of the night to make it a baker’s dozen for the Mavericks.

Brandon Ponticelli’s exceptional night lasted five innings on the Mavericks mound, getting the yank before the sixth after striking out seven Melville batters while allowing just one hit.

In the sixth inning, Austin Sojka got in on the action with a ground-out to second base but was able to bring both Jones and Freddy Walker home to boost Medicine Hat’s sizable lead to 15 runs.

After being the beneficiary of Sojka’s ground-out one inning earlier, Walker heated up out of the seventh inning stretch with an RBI-single to increase the score even more.

Melville finally scored their first runs of the series in the top of the eighth inning with two runs crossing home plate, but Austin Oulds silenced the Millionaires bats in the ninth to secure the win in just two and a half hours.

Ponticelli evened up his record on the year at 3-3 with the victory, bringing his ERA down to just a hair over 5.00.

Along with Wright’s big night at the dish, Klingensmith and Rodriguez starred with a pair of RBIs each for Medicine Hat.

Through the first two games of the series, the Mavericks have controlled play throughout by outscoring the Millionaires 37-2 over that stretch.

Combined with a Lethbridge Bulls loss in Okotoks, Medicine Hat now sits alone in second place in the Western Division with a 26-21 record.

Looking for the series sweep, it’s back at Athletic Park on Sunday afternoon for the Mavericks to face the Millionaires one last time this season at 2:05 pm.