By Scott Roblin

Heavy offence returns in Mavericks blowout over Bombers

Jul 20, 2018 | 9:33 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – For most of the season, Jordan Dray has served as an effective bench player for the Medicine Hat Mavericks in the outfield.

But on Friday night, the Vancouver product showed his full offensive capabilities in a dominating 9-1 victory over the Brooks Bombers.

Dray made contact twice against the Bombers on Friday night at Athletic Park, driving in a team-high four runs to help get Medicine Hat back on track after a loss on Wednesday in Edmonton.

The Mavericks took the first lead of the game in the third inning, as Carson Johnson hit into a fielder’s choice but eventually reached second base off an infield error from the Bombers.

That allowed Jaxson Hooge to score from second base and put the home side up 1-0 heading to the fourth inning.

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After Matt Brooks blanked the Bombers for a fourth straight inning, Medicine Hat got to work on the bats with a double from Dray that cleared the bases to extend the Mavericks lead to 4-0.

Johnson followed that up with a single to score Hooge and David Salgueiro off a stolen base to make it a six-run lead for Medicine Hat.

Nolan Rattai continued his hot play as of late with an RBI single in the following inning to bring home Zack Gray and increase the lead to 7-0.

Following a wild pitch that advanced the runners, Louie Canjura grounded out to second base but was able to score Sal Rodriguez in the process.

Dray capped off the three-run fifth inning with a ground out as well, bringing Rattai home for his fourth RBI of the night and a 9-0 lead for Medicine Hat.

Brooks’ only run of the night came in the top of the seventh inning, with Britt Logan hitting into a sacrifice fly to score Connor Hillburn and break the shutout.

That was the only blemish on Matt Brooks’ evening on the mound, as he was replaced ahead of the eighth inning with just five hits and one earned run given up, while striking out seven Bombers batters.

Julien Ly and hometown pitcher Alex Andres finished off the contest, combining for just one hit given up over two innings.

Rodriguez and Dray were the only Mavericks batters to have multi-hit nights, while Johnson, Rattai, and Canjura registered RBIs alongside Dray.

Now improving to 31-7 on the 2018 season, the playoff bound Mavericks are five and half games up on the Okotoks Dawgs for first in the West Division.

Medicine Hat’s three-game weekend series against the Bombers continues on Saturday night with a stop in Brooks, opening pitch at Elks Stadium is planned for 7:05 pm.