One more base hit, a couple more runs and who knows how things would have ended for the Moose Jaw Canucks during the Baseball Sask 13U AAA championship in Saskatoon.
Instead, the local squad settled for a 7-6 loss to the Sask 5 Giants in their final round robin game and as a result just missed qualifying for the playoffs at the 12-team tournament during the Aug. 5 weekend.
Moose Jaw had opened the event in style with a 24-5 win over the Swift Current 57’s before taking a 12-11 win in their contest with the Saskatoon Blue Jays.
As a result, they needed a win in their final game to take first place in their pool and advance to the playoffs.
It was the Giants -- champions of the Baseball Saskatoon 13U AAA league -- who got off to a good start, though, scoring three runs in the first and building a 6-2 lead through three innings.
The Canucks got a pair back in the top of the fifth and after Sask 5 picked up a single run in their half of the inning, made it a two-run deficit coming home with a single run in the sixth.
The final inning saw Drayson Silbernagel hit a one-out double and come around to score, and Moose Jaw would get the winning run to first before Sask 5 was able to escape with the win.
Silbernagel ended up with a solid game at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a lead-off home run in the third inning, a double and three runs scored.
Zaid Guillaume lead off the game with a round-tripper of his own while Neal Kohl had two hits in three trips to the plate.
Guillaume got the start on the mound and gave up six runs on four hits in two innings, walking four and striking out three, while Lucas Lind finished things off, allowing a single run on two hits and striking out four over four innings.
Moose Jaw can take solace in the fact that Sask 5 would go unbeaten through the tournament, taking a 12-1 win over the Regina Red Sox in the semifinal and downing the Saskatoon Cardinals 13-9 in the gold medal game.
