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2B-The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, May 14, 2002 Mavericks earn second split in as many weeks to expectations, says GM By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion Right on track. That's how Jim Goertz describes the Jr. B Mavericks' early-season results, following a sec- ond two-game split in as many weeks. "We're bang on to where we expected to be," Milton's general manager said of a 2-4 record, which included a pair of single-goal defeats. "Hopefully we can squeak into the playoffs." The Mavericks - back after a two-year hiatus - took another step toward that end by hum- bling the Owen Sound Flying Dutchmen 13-6 handed goals --two by penalty killing spark plug Kaegen Sherriff - highlighted what in ail probability will be the team's most decisive vie- tory this season. Milton scored five unanswered goals in each of the first two periods to put a stranglehold on the game. Dominated entire game And despite losing a handful of players to injury or misconducts - the direct result of the Dutchmen's blatant frustrations - the hosts were never in any threat of surrendering their lead. The Mavericks were a little overzealous with Meanwhile, Elias faced three dozen shots and was particularly effective when challenged downstairs. With the game essentially over by the midway mark of the third, he handed over the cage work to Jordan Lumb, who was beat once on five tries. In addition to Sherriff, Matt Decaire, Lee Frittenburg and Jon Sweetland all tallied twice against Owen Sound. Two nights later in Akwesasne, Milton came out sluggish from the opening draw and never really shifted out of neutral en route to getting spanked 12-4. Said Goertz, "Maybe it was the five-hour bus A fairly credible penalty-killing campaign helped keep Akwesasne from really running up the score, but an overall lack of effort cost the visitors from making any kind of legitimate run at victory. Derek Mewhinney potted two goals while sin- gles went to Bobby MacDonald and Steve Chuchmach - who retumed from suspension this past week and should help complete the Mavericks' top two scoring units. Milton retums to Tonelli Thursday for one of its stiffest tests of the year against Elora at 8 p.m. Saturday they wrap up a two-game homestand at 7 p.m. against Gloucester. Reding remains unbeaten after downing 'Stangs By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion Joe Jurus expects a lot lrom this year's Royals - and thus far, they've delivered. Heading into the second half of the regular season yesterday afternoon against White Oaks, Bishop Reding's boys baseball team remained undefeated with four straight wins - including Friday's 8-4 decision over cross-town rival Milton District. "The reason we're doing so well is that our big players are play- ing big," BR's skipper stressed. Against the Mustangs, Liam Tennant drove in four runs includ- ing two with a sixth-inning homer that essentially put the game out of reach. Conan O'Brien and Chris Dumencu continued to provide an effective one-two punch on the mound. On a day where wicked winds made fielding more than a little difficult, the veteran pitchers offered a stabilizing presence - giv- ing up just two earned runs - and helped keep the team's unbeat- en record intact. They've logged the majority of innings in three of four contests, including last Monday's 4-1 triumph over Iroquois Ridge, during which they combined for a three-hitter. Two days later, the Royals donned their rally caps to pull out a 7-6 squeaker against St. Thomas Aquinas. Tennant came through with a two-run double in their last at-bat to punctuate the come- back. Also showing strongly so far, in limited pitching duty, have been Rob Bennett and Nick Clough, while O'Brien has gone 7-for-10 at the plate to compliment his reliable mound work. Now that Jurus' charges have essentially qualified for the play- offs, they'll turn their attention to securing either home-field advantage or a more favourable opening-round bye. Attaining the later will be a tough task, especially with the unbeaten Loyola Hawks and traditionally competitive E.C. Drury Spartans on the slate for tomorrow and Thursday respectively. Tomorrow's game will be played at Maplehurst while the two local teams will do battle at Brain Best Thursday. Both games start at 3:30 p.m. "Those will be two big games for us," said Jurus. "We'll see just how good our pitching really is." Meanwhile, Milton District has won three of its first four games to all but guarantee itself a post-season berth - something that may not have been expected by many of this young, rebuilding team. But according to first-year manager Andrew Todd, some solid team play and surprisingly effective pitching have helped the Mustangs counteract their inexperience. That was certainly the case last Monday, when they rallied from a seemingly insurmountable 7-0 deficit in the final frame to eclipse Q.E. Park 9-7. Michael Volpe clobbered a grand slam to steal victory out of the hands of defeat. He's also been a standout on the hill - although the most encouraging part of this year's team has been the support he's gotten from the up-and-coming pitchers. Going into yesterday's home game against Iroquois Ridge, the Mustangs remained in the hunt for a top-four finish, which would give them home-field advantage for the first round next week. On the other hand, E.C. Drury sat out of the playoff picture as of yesterday and will likely need to win three of its last five outings in order to advance. The playoffs begin next Tuesday.