By IAN WILSON

It was a summer that ended too soon for Mavs fans.

The 2025 edition of the Medicine Hat Mavericks picked up 34 regular season victories, the most wins the team had since 2018, when the Mavs won the West Division and the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) championship.

This time around Medicine Hat entered the East Division playoffs in second place and with hopes for a long postseason run.

But the Regina Red Sox had other plans. After sweeping their opening round best-of-three matchup against the Mavericks, the Red Sox were the team that went on a run and captured the WCBL title.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, the Mavs were winners in the stands. Athletic Park welcomed 34,626 fans through the turnstiles in 2025 for an average crowd of 1,332 baseball boosters per game. The Mavs have seen a steady increase in attendance over recent years and will look to continue that trend this summer.

The Mavericks will also seek to get back to the WCBL championship series for the first time since 2023.

Let’s take a closer look at the roster and see if they have the horses to do it.

BATTING

The heart of Medicine Hat’s infield from last summer will be back again fielding grounders and punching out base hits.

Carter Roth, a second sacker and third baseman from Stratford, Ontario, was one of the top hitters in the WCBL last year. In 50 regular season games, the Doane University student produced 84 hits, including 10 doubles and five home runs. In addition to his .380 batting average, Roth scored 40 runs and drove in 54 runs.

He’ll have some familiar faces to sling the ball around the horn with, as brothers Johnny Vulcano and Adam Vulcano have suited up alongside Roth at Doane University and at Athletic Park. Adam has played 51 games with the Mavs since 2024 and collected 41 hits, 36 runs and 24 runs batted in (RBI), while Johnny has appeared in 142 WCBL contests as a middle infielder since 2023, manufacturing 134 hits, 97 runs and 64 RBI in 538 at bats.

Shortstop Blake Dale is returning for a third season with the Mavericks. The Riverton, Wyoming native has 50 runs, 37 RBI, 15 doubles and seven homers in 78 games with Medicine Hat.

Also back is local talent Evan Morrison, who can handle first base duties or shag fly balls in the outfield. During his 66 WCBL games over the last two seasons, Morrison has 36 runs, 35 RBI, nine long balls and six stolen bases.

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The Mavs will be without the consistent hitting of league All-Star Tyler Vanneste, but they’ll look to a pair of newcomers to provide sound infield defence and get on base with regularity.

Eric Calder is a sophomore first baseman from Oakville, Ontario who plays first base for the Blue Jays at Tabor College. This season, Calder is batting .310 with 22 runs, 30 RBI and five homers through 30 games.

Frankie Giacolone is a 6-foot-4 infielder from San Diego, California. The junior at Mid-America Christian University is hitting .327 with 41 runs, 46 RBI, 14 dingers, 13 stolen bases and a .467 on-base percentage during 52 games in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

In the outfield, Jeremy Freeman Jr. will be back to provide highlight-reel catches and scamper around the bases. The Chicago, Illinois product had a .336 batting average, 59 runs, 43 RBI, 23 stolen bases, 17 doubles and five round trippers in 47 regular season games and two playoff contests with the Mavs last year. Freeman Jr. has been a standout at Ottawa University in Kansas. In his 135 games over three seasons with the Braves, he has a .339 batting average, 124 runs, 11 homers, 110 RBI and 93 swiped bags. Freeman Jr. holds the single-season stolen base record for the school, which he set last year with 41 steals.

Local outfielder Josh Stark is returning to the Mavericks for the first time since 2022, when he suited up in 23 games for Medicine Hat. The 6-foot-3 Stark is a junior at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

Making their debuts with the Mavs this summer will be Thomas Schnabel, a Driftwood, Texas product who attends Abilene Christian University, and Carson Chan out of the University of the Fraser Valley program in Abbotsford, B.C.

The catching tandem of Jamel Chabot and Nate King are returning for another summer of WCBL action at Athletic Park. In 29 regular season games with Medicine Hat in 2025, King was a .287 hitter with 19 runs, 20 RBI and a pair of homers. Chabot had a .290 batting average, 15 runs and 10 RBI in 23 games.

Also available to mask up behind the dish is Jahzeel Groetelaers, who is a teammate of Giacolone’s at Mid-America Christian University. Through 44 games with the Evangels, Groetelaers posted a .402 on-base percentage, smacked six long balls and produced 24 RBI.

PITCHING

A trio of returning players are back with the pitching staff and will look to build on their WCBL performances from last summer.

Gary Dornan is a native of Moncton, New Brunswick and a Badlands Academy grad who took the bump in 12 games – eight of them starts – for Medicine Hat last year. The righty, who is now a freshman at Southeastern Illinois College, went 4-2 with a save and 28 strikeouts in 39-plus innings.

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Righthander Diego Centella appeared in 18 games out of the bullpen with the Mavericks in 2025, including one playoff outing. The Panamanian went 2-2 with a 3.44 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 33 innings.

David Heinen is a 6-foot-2 righthander from Holdingford, Minnesota who made six relief appearances and recorded eight strikeouts in 10.1 innings. Heinen has spent the last two years at the Itasca campus of Minnesota State, where he’s worked as both a starter and a reliever. In 25 games and 83.1 innings, he has a 10-4 record, five complete games, two saves, 58 Ks and a 5.62 ERA.

There will also be several new arms available to the coaching staff.

Standing tall is 6-foot-5 Tanner Hail of Reno, Nevada. The righty sophomore at Feather River College has taken the mound in 28 games for the Golden Eagles over the last two years and 25 of those outings have been starts. Hail is 10-5 with a 3.83 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 127 innings.

Standing even taller is Levi Tibbetts, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound righthander from Lisbon Falls, Maine who attends Rollins College as a redshirt sophomore. Tibbetts also has an accomplished background in basketball.

While Tibbetts has a two-sport background, Nolan Walsh has a reputation as a strong two-way player. The lefty hurler from Toronto is in his freshman season at the University of South Carolina Lancaster. Walsh has five strikeouts in seven innings and five appearances for the Lancers. He also plays in the outfield and has a .310 batting average and nine RBI in 42 at bats.

Derek Archer is a senior at Westminster College in Missouri. In his four years with the Blue Jays, the 5-foot-11 righthander worked in 39 games and made 35 starts. He went 12-7 with a 4.48 ERA, two complete games, one shutout and 133 strikeouts over 193 innings.

Southpaw Cody Myers has been added to the roster from East Texas Baptist University. Pitching for the Tigers in his home state, Myers has a 5.23 ERA, a 3-1 record and 43 strikeouts in 43 innings. He has made 12 appearances and half of them have been starts.

Another Mid-America Christian University addition is Angel Miranda, a Panama product used as both a reliever and a starter over his last two years with the Evangels. Through 14 appearances, six starts and 41.2 innings, the righty is 5-1 with one save, a 3.46 ERA and 49 Ks.

Texan Kayden Shivers is a right-handed reliever with Kansas Wesleyan University, where he posted a 4.40 ERA, 2-1 record, two saves and 10 strikeouts in 13 games and 14.1 innings with the Coyotes.

Jax Graham is a 6-foot-2 graduate of Badlands Academy, where he studied under former Mavericks star Nolan Rattai. The right-handed pitcher from Pictou County, Nova Scotia is in his freshman year at Arkansas State University Mid-South.

Joining the Mavs from Southwestern Christian University is Miguel de Jesus, another Nova Scotian who has made three relief appearances for the Eagles, resulting in four innings on the mound, four strikeouts and a 2.25 ERA.

Trevor Syer provides some more Canadian content for the pitching staff. The 6-foot-2 product of Petrolia, Ontario suited up for the Fort McMurray Giants for 25-plus innings in 2024. The righty is now at Kankakee Community College.

J.J. Harnett is a local pitcher who plays for Prairie Baseball Academy in Lethbridge. In the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) this season, the 6-foot-2 hurler has three strikeouts in three appearances out of the bullpen.

Takeo Cervantez rounds out the available arms as a righthander from Reno, Nevada.

COACHING

Ryan Reed has received a promotion in Medicine Hat.

The assistant coach with Mid-America Christian University also took on the role of assistant coach with the Mavericks in 2025. Following the playoffs, he was named as the head coach of the Mavs for this upcoming season.

“I’m looking forward to being back up in Med Hat and hopefully bringing back a majority of the guys to have a chance to make a special run,” Reed told Medicine Hat News reporter James Tubb.

The Mavericks went 34-21 during the regular season, the team’s highest wins total since 2018, before being swept by the Regina Red Sox in the opening round of the postseason.

“Obviously the postseason run was pretty disappointing, we had a very talented group that competed with every team in the league … we handled a majority of the Western Division, now it’s just taking that next step in the playoffs because that’s two years in a row we’ve been knocked down the first round,” said Reed.

“We really just have to emphasize depth on the mound and offensively, just a little more timely hitting in the postseason.”

Andrew Bench has been inked as the pitching coach for the 2026 campaign. The graduate assistant with the Milligan University Buffaloes in Tennessee pitched for two years with the Carson Newman Eagles.

David Dell, who was an outfielder with the Mavericks in 2022, has also joined the coaching staff as an assistant.

“He was a gritty player who will put the work in to help our players enjoy themselves while improving this summer,” said Greg Morrison, the owner and general manager of the Mavs.

Home Ballpark: Athletic Park

Home Opener: 6:45 p.m., Thursday, May 28th vs. Regina Red Sox

2025 Regular Season Results: 2nd place in East Division with 34 wins & 21 losses

2025 Playoff Results: Swept by Regina Red Sox in opening series; 0-2 postseason record

WCBL Championships: 2003, 2014 & 2018