Medicine Hat Mavericks move up in standings after first of three against Weyburn Beavers

Roth said post-game that he was seeing the ball like it was a beach ball after working with head coach Ryan Reed before the game.

“We were just working on a few things. Trying to stay more relaxed, not trying to do too much, and it paid off,” Roth said.

“This pitcher gave us some trouble last time, so we came prepared. He was the individual who beat us last time in Weyburn. Now it’s at our house, and we just took it to him, and it was awesome.”

After the Beavers struck for a run in the top of the third inning, the Mavs responded in the bottom half with another solo home run. Frankie Giacalone this time hit a shot to deep left centre to give the Mavs a 3-1 lead.

In the fourth inning, Johnny Vulcano would lead things off with a single, eventually coming home on a Josh Stark single to extend the lead to 5-1.

Weyburn would score a run in both the sixth and eighth innings to narrow the Mavs’ lead to 5-3, before Medicine Hat responded with a pair of their own in the bottom of the eighth.

An Adam Vulcano double would score Takeo Cervantez, who had come in as a pinch runner for Eric Calder, and the other Vulcano brother, Johnny, would also cross the plate to make it 7-3.

David Heinen would start the ninth inning for the Mavs and get one out, but would give up a pair of runs to narrow the lead to 7-5.

The Mavs would then call Jackson Miller to the mound to get the final two outs and the save. Diego Centella got the win pitching an out shy of six innings and giving up a pair of runs.

Roth said the win was huge, especially at this point in the season.

“We’re just over the halfway mark. We need it, now more than ever,” Roth said.

“We have the guys to do it. We’re getting hot at the right time, and that’s all we’re focused on. We’re starting to gel together. These are my brothers, and I’m excited.”

Roth was also happy to see a teammate from last season back on the mound on Saturday.

The Mavs’ Danny Ratzlaff pitched a scoreless seventh inning with a pair of strikeouts in his first WMBL action of the season.

“It’s good to be back. I miss those fans. It was awesome. At first, I was a little antsy and felt a little foreign, but a couple of pitches in, I’m like, this is home. I miss playing at this place. This park is really special,” Ratzlaff said.

Mavs head coach Ryan Reed says he was also happy to have Ratzlaff back on the mound.

“I’m so happy to have Danny back. When I talked to him back in April, and he said he wanted to come in on a second-half contract, I was pretty fired up,” Reed said.

“Another lefty on the mound, and he’s experienced. He’s a veteran throughout college ball now and WCBL in his second year, so very happy to have him back.”

Reed adds he was happy to win, but the games have been close of late.

“I would like to have a little bit less stress in some of these late-inning games this week,” Reed said.

“We’ve been in a lot of close ones over the last week or two. It’s starting to show that guys are being more comfortable in the moment.”

The Mavs had suffered a tough extra-inning loss to the Bulls, 11-10, in Lethbridge on Friday.

by Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat Mavericks move up in standings after first of three against Weyburn Beavers

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