The Lethbridge Bulls wanted to open the Western Canadian Baseball League playoffs with a bang on home turf and that bang came off the bat of Thursday’s designated hitter Kaleb Warden — a solo, game-winning homerun in the bottom of the 8th inning.
With the 3-2 win the Bulls are now one step closer to redemption, as they try to eliminate the same Medicine Hat Mavericks that ended their playoff campaign in the first round in 2018.
The bitter feelings from last year still ring true for Warden — a second-year player with the Bulls — so it was only fitting that the game-winning shot was courtesy of the Texas native.
“It feels great,” Warden said after the win. “With the series last year that we had in playoffs… it’s good to get game one under our belt.”
Warden was a catalyst for the Bulls’ offense throughout the regular season, with a team-high 12 home runs and a league-leading 66 runs batted in.
But he is yet to have any success against Mav’s relief pitcher Junior Pimentel, who was swapped in during the seventh inning.
“That is the first hit I’ve had against him in the two summers I’ve played against him,” said Warden.
“I saw a few pitches, I swung at one and then I saw another one — he threw me the same pitch — and I was like, ‘I’m not going to get beat in.’ So I just tried to get the barrel there and luckily I caught it with some elevation.”
Bulls’ head coach Jesse Sawyer wasn’t surprised it was Warden who came up big at the plate, but following the game said it wasn’t an easy night to generate offense.
Sawyer also credited his pitching staff for coming up big in the win, including starter Logan Bexten.
“Bexten did a great job,” Sawyer said. “[He] went seven solid innings for us. He gave us a chance to win all year and he did it tonight.”
Tevin Hall came in in relief of Bexten mid-way through the seventh. And with a 3-2 lead and the game on the line, the Bulls turned to closer Evan O’Toole in the top of the ninth.
“Evan O’Toole came in and shut the door, which was awesome,” Warden said.
Last year, the Mavericks needed just four games out of a possible five to end the Bulls’ season in the first round. This year, with an updated playoff format the Bulls could win the series Friday night in Medicine Hat.
With just a three-game series, home fans at Spitz Stadium in Lethbridge might not see their team until Round 2, but if needed, Game 3 would be Saturday night on the Bulls’ home turf.
The winner of the series will face the winner of the the Okotoks Dawgs-Edmonton Prospects series. Okotoks took Game 1 by a score of 7-2.
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