Dawgs' offence takes over in Medicine Hat

Cameron Campbell was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI to help lead the Okotoks Dawgs to a 12-5 win over the Medicine Hat Mavericks on Thursday. Photo Credit: Amanda Fewer

Thursday July 13, 2017

Dawgs' offence takes over in Medicine Hat

By Dustin Saracini

Medicine Hat, AB - The (23-10) Okotoks Dawgs continued to roll in Medicine Hat, earning their sixth straight victory against the (18-14) Mavericks, 12-5.

With the win, the red and white now take a 3-2 season series lead.

With the bats, Okotoks collected 10 hits, highlighted by Cameron Campbell (University of Oregon) and Greg Cullen (Niagara University) who blasted the Dawgs’ eighth and ninth home run in the last two nights -- driving in six between the two. Eddie Sanchez (Central Arkansas) accumulated his 11th multi-hit game of the season while Brendan Rose (UBC - Calgary, AB) chipped in with two hits of his own in the victory.

“It’s unreal, guys one through nine can pretty much hit bombs at anytime,” Campbell said of his teammates following the game. “You’re never worried if you fail.”

The Mavericks broke the deadlock in the bottom half of the first, quickly loading the bases with no out before a questionable hit-by-pitch call brought the first run of the contest across the plate. Justin Vernia (Gonzaga University) was then able to issue a 5-2-3 double play and a line out, limiting the threat to just one.

He later got himself out of a two-out bases loaded jam, en route to his third victory of the season.

Okotoks was presented the same situation in the third inning, making use of command issues and a trio of walks. An eight-pitch free pass to Cullen turned the lights on for Sanchez, who ripped a two-run single through the 4-3 hole and into shallow right field. The base-knock extended his hitting streak to three games. Matt Lloyd (Indiana University) kept the train moving with a hard-hit ground ball to the right side to give the Dawgs a 3-1 advantage through three frames.

It stayed that way until the fifth, where Medicine Hat capitalized on a two-out error to score twice and knot the contest at three.

Campbell and Rose would change things quite quickly with their next cracks at the plate, though. With runners in scoring position, the two combined for back-to-back RBI singles, while two bases loaded walks followed, handing the Dawgs a five-run lead.

Medicine Hat cut the deficit to three with a two-run blast off the bat of Colton Wright -- the Vancouver product out of Northeastern State University -- but that was as close as they would get.

In the seventh it was Campbell barrelling his second home run in as many nights to deep left field, driving in his second and third run of the game.

“It’s starting to click,” said Campbell. “I’ve been hitting with Tyler Graham a lot and he’s really helping me out, I guess I’m starting to see the ball a little bit better.”

Cullen followed suit just two batters later, levelling a towering shot over the wall in right for his first of the season to make it a seven-run lead.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Justin Vernia (R): 5 IP 10 H 3 R 1 ER 2 BB 3 K

Eddie Sanchez: 3-5, 2 RBI, .360 AVG

Greg Cullen (R): 2-5, 3 R, 3 RBI, .326 AVG

Cameron Campbell (R): 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, .333 AVG

OF RECORD:

WP: Justin Vernia (3-0) LP: Jared Libke (2-3)