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The 9-3 win over the Melville Millionaires wasn’t what they dream about in Kansas cornfields, but it was a very solid win for a team which needs to keep the pedal to the metal from now through the Western Major Baseball League playoffs.
The Bulls struggled for much of July, losing five in a row from the 11-16 and they were barely .500 before that. Now, after watching an early season lead over the Medicine Hat Mavericks disappear, the Bulls are in control in second place in the WMBL West division. Their 25-22 record with one game to play — Tuesday at Spitz Stadium against the Edmonton Prospects — has them a game-and-a-half ahead of Medicine Hat (23-23 with two to play).
The magic number for clinching second is down to one. But what the Mavericks are up to isn’t Rhodes’ concern. He’s happier about some of the situations he’s seen his players respond to over the last stretch of games. The Bulls are 6-1 in their past seven.
“We’re swinging the bats really good right now and yeah, I’d say we’ve built up some momentum,” said Rhodes, who is in his second season with the Bulls. It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, as the team’s play had been a source of frustration.
“One thing we’ve done lately that we definitely weren’t doing before is we’re not sitting on our hands when the other team scores some runs.
“It seemed like early on, we’d watch them score and just go ‘Oh, well, that’s it.’ But now I’m seeing the guys get fired up about getting those runs back and it shows in the way we respond.”
Sunday’s game provided an example of that when the Millionaires took a lead after replying to the Bulls’ first-inning score. Melville scored a run in each of the second and third innings, but the Bulls kept plugging away at Melville starter Josh Haun. The breakthrough came in the sixth inning, as Haun lost the strike zone and walked in the tying and go-ahead runs. A Zach Rhodes bases-clearing double finished the inning off and the teams traded runs in the seventh.
“I think guys were a little more patient today,” said Rhodes. “We were waiting for him to throw something at us but at thew same time, you can’t be afraid to take a cut at the ball and I don’t think we were.”
On the mound, Tyler Vavra, who moved into the rotation recently, gave the team a solid five and a third innings to go with eight strikeouts. Vavra allowed seven hits but didn’t miss the strike zone very often. He was relieved by Aaron Baker — who improved to 4-1 with the win — before Logan Norris came in to pitch the seventh. Jared Mortensen wrapped up the final two innings. Of the seven batters Mortensen faced, he struck out five.
“Tyler’s a starter in college and just seemed like Logan couldn’t get anything going when he was starting. He wasn’t pitching bad, he just wasn’t finding it so we moved Tyler into the rotation and then Logan’s been great coming on from the bullpen,” said Rhodes. “It’s lucky that they’re both versatile enough to pull that off and I think it’s been a good move for both of them.”
Ryan McDonald raised him team-leading batting average to .431 with a pair of hits to go with an RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Zach Rhodes came up big with four RBIs. Josh Lowden managed to score three runs and Dan McNeil was 4-for-5 with two runs scored.
NOTES — The Bulls’ 6-1 run comes as Medicine Hat muddles through a 2-4 stretch. . . . The Bulls will open the playoffs on the road Friday, opponent undetermined. Their first home game will be Sunday at Spitz Stadium.