Mitchell Answering the Call to be Leme’s Wingman
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – Ezekiel Mitchell lifted his arms emphatically into the air and pointed at the back of the bucking chutes inside the Honda Center Saturday night.
Mitchell had just ridden Get Shorty for 82.75 points to get Austin within 1.75 points of the Kansas City Outlaws, eventually setting two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme up for his game-winning heroics.
Saturday was the second time in Anaheim, California, that Mitchell led things off for his Austin Gamblers with a critical qualified ride. On Friday night, Mitchell gave Austin an early 86.25-point lead against Nashville (2-5).
The two rides were essential.
Mitchell and Leme led Austin to a 2-0 record with wins over Nashville and Kansas City this weekend in Anaheim. The rest of the team went 0-for-6.
Leme then lasted the longest in the Bonus Round (5.59 seconds on July) as the Gamblers won the tiebreaker for the event title over the Missouri Thunder (Clayton Sellars – 2.97 seconds on Top Shelf) and Oklahoma Freedom (Derek Kolbaba – 1.9 seconds on Concho).
Austin coach Michael Gaffney has desperately tried to find someone on his roster to help Leme push the Gamblers to victory. Leme is leading the league’s MVP race with his 7-for-10 start to the season, but one rider will not be able to singlehandedly lead his team to victory during every five-vs.-five bull riding competition in the PBR Team Series.
Gaffney’s new winning recipe may include placing Mitchell in his leadoff spot and ending each game with Leme in the closer role.
“You could reach for the stars and still come up short, right?” Gaffney said inside the Honda Center. “Leme’s an alien anyway, but to have the chance to rely on a guy like Zeke is huge. He’s showing us that he can step out there and handle the pressure and do it, ‘cause it’s easy to clamp in this business and make an easy mistake and get bucked off any of these. I’m really proud of Zeke. I can’t say enough about him.”
Leme and Mitchell are two of Austin’s most passionate and fiery competitors.
Momentum is something all eight coaches in the inaugural PBR Team Series competition are striving for early in games, and Mitchell has an energy about him that can certainly elevate his teammates’ spirits.
Of course, passion alone will not lead to qualified rides. Still, Mitchell’s ability to get a score on the board, combined with his fun, easy-going personality, could be the perfect complement to the competitive intensity of Leme.
“It is fun. It helps me a little bit because if I got to start it off, I know the rest of the team is going to feed off me,” Mitchell said. “Any person in the No. 1 spot, I would like for them to start it off good for us. That has just been it. I had figured I just have to start it off for my team.
“Somebody has to be the cheerleader if we are going to put it like that. If I can get a ride down and be able to get the team pumped up after and continue to keep it rolling and keep it moving and keep it loose and cool, hell, I would do whatever.”
Austin and Carolina (3-4) are tied for the league lead for most rides from the leadoff position (5). Austin, Carolina, and Missouri (6-1) are tied for the second-most qualified rides with 13. The Arizona Ridge Riders (4-3) lead the PBR Team Series with 14 qualified rides.
The Gamblers have won three games in a row to surge to No. 2 in the PBR Team Series standings. They head into this weekend’s Stampede Days in Nashville two games behind No. 1 Missouri.
Austin is slated to face the Ridge Riders in a battle between second-place teams on Friday night at Bridgestone Arena (8:45 p.m. ET on RidePass on Pluto TV).
Nashville will be an important weekend for Austin as the black and green look to take over the PBR Team Series lead ahead of their homestand – Gambler Days – on Aug. 26-28 at the brand-new Moody Center.
“We finally started finding our rhythm,” Mitchell said. “Those first few games and stuff, to be completely honest, we were getting careless a little bit, even though we weren’t winning all of them. I now think all the hard work and the little things we are doing as a team are making us adhere to each other. We are all here for a purpose, and we are trying to win.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media
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