The WMBL regular season is 75% done. The league website recently wrote a column on how the Medicine Hat Mavericks, already at 30 wins, stand a chance to break the record for most wins in a season (39). The fly in their ointment is the Edmonton Prospects! On Wednesday night, for the 3rd time this season, the Prospects defeated the Mavericks. Keep in mind; the Mavericks have only 7 losses all season! The win is the Prospects 4th straight at the friendly confines of RE/MAX Field and 6th straight overall pushing their record over the .500 mark for the first time since June 12th.
A Prospects offence that had scored 36 runs in their previous two games jumped out to a 3-0 lead. A sacrifice fly by Nick Spillman scored Tony Olson in the first inning opened the scoring. In the third inning, AJ Nitzschke and Olson got the ball rolling with back-to-back walks. Zane Takhar plated Nitzschke and Eric Crain plated Olson.
Making his fourth start of the season, Edgar Barclay and his 1.24 ERA was tasked with trying to slow down the highest run scoring offence in the league. Barclay kept them off the scoreboard until the 4th inning. With the lead-off runner aboard Nolan Rattai doubled to break the shutout.
Anthony Cusati quickly got that run back in the bottom of the 4th inning with a first pitch home run making it a 4-1 Prospects lead.
Barclay’s night would end with only one away in the 5th inning. A Colton Wright double cashed in Carson Johnson who was hit by a pitch. Rattai’s 2nd double of the night brought the Mavericks to within one. Barclay’s final line was 4 1/3 innings played allowing 3 runs on 7 hits. While the night’s performance will not rank as one of his best, his new ERA of 1.96 in a total of 21 1/3 innings played this season is still very impressive.
The Prospects made it 5-3 in the bottom of the 5th when Beaux Guilbeau hit his first triple of the season scoring Eric Crain.
Brenden Wiun, who took over for Barclay on the mound, gave up a lead-off home run to Jordan Dray to start the 6th inning. Wiun allowed two more baserunners in the inning but stranded both.
Once again the Prospects responded in the bottom half of the inning! On base via a walk, Olson came around to score to make it 6-4 Prospects.
Jordan Smith came in to pitch for the Prospects and retired the Mavericks in order in the top of the 7th inning. Back-to-back hits to start the 8th brought the Mavericks within 1. With 2-out the Mavericks then tied the game at 6.
Josh Sieglitz came on to pitch for the Prospects in the 9th inning. It was Sieglitz’s 8th appearance of the season and 4th time facing the Mavericks. 6-up, 6-down with 3 strikeouts sums up a strong performance by Sieglitz as the game went into extra innings.
With 2-out in the bottom of the 10th, Olson reached base with a single. With Takhar at the plate, Olson moved to second a wild pitch. Two pitches later the Mavericks catcher struggled to scoop the ball out of the dirt and Olson charged to third. The throw got past the third baseman and Olson raced home for the game winning run! 7-6 was your final score as the remaining 1,284 fans went home happy!
Tony Olson wins the Player of the Game award going 2-for-4 at the plate with two walks. Olson’s aggressiveness on the bases can be directly linked to 3 of the 6 Mavericks errors on the evening.
Thursday July 19 vs Medicine Hat – Pre-game Business Mixer - 7:05 PM First Pitch
Friday July 20 vs Regina - Edmonton Trappers Night featuring Ron Kittle! 7:05 PM First Pitch The legendary John Short will be hosting a pre-game “Sportstalk” with Kittle and fellow Edmonton Trappers Icons GM Mel Kowalchuk and play-by-play voice Al Coates at 5PM in the lounge.
*Outside Food Policy - The Edmonton Prospects have a no outside food policy at RE/MAX Field. Security will check specifically for nuts and sunflower seeds due to allergies. Any outside food will be asked to either be consumed prior to entry to the ballpark or returned to your car. You may bring a water bottle to the game but it must be empty as you can refill for free inside at one of two water fountains. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
