REGINA -- The Regina Red Sox are off to the second round of the Western Canadian Baseball League playoffs.
The Sox booked their spot in the East Division Final with a 13-7 victory over the Medicine Hat Mavericks at Currie Field in Regina on Thursday night, winning the best-of-three series two-games-to-none.
They’ll now await the winner of the Saskatoon Berries and Moose Jaw Miller Express after Saskatoon took a 15-6 win in Game 2 of their series at Ross Wells Park in Moose Jaw, tying their series at a game apiece. The deciding contest will be played Friday night in Saskatoon.
Other results Thursday saw the Okotoks Dawgs take a 9-2 win over the Brooks Bombers to finish off their West Division semifinal in two games, while the Sylvan Lake Gulls took an 8-0 win over the Lethbridge Bulls in the opening game of their series.
Regina 13, Medicine Hat 7
The Red Sox decided to leave nothing to doubt in finishing off their first-round upset, scoring four in the first inning and tacking on three more in the second for a quick 7-0 lead. They’d tack on another two in the fourth for a 9-2 edge and made sure any comeback attempts would fall short with four more in the seventh. The Mavericks put together a last-ditch rally with three in the ninth but would get no closer.
James Wright got things rolling for Regina in the opening inning, hitting a bases-loaded double that would bring home Brady Bye, Jalen Meyers and Ian Montz as they staked out their 4-0 lead. Wright would finish with three hits on the night to go along with his three RBI.
Bye was a thorn in the Mavericks’ side all game and ended up 3-for-5 with a pair of runs and two RBI. Zayd Brannigan went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, including a run-scoring double in the second inning.
All that early offence was more than enough for Chris Spry to get things done on the mound, as he would allow four runs, three earned on nine hits over six innings, striking out seven.Vittorio Iacobucci tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth, Ty Fortin and Nicolas Yard would finish things off.
Adam Vulcano scored a pair of runs for the Mavericks, while Yusei Uzawa knocked in a pair during their three-run ninth. Carter Roth picked up three hits.
Xander Roberts took the loss, giving up seven runs, three earned, on six hits in 1 ⅓ innings.
Saskatoon 15, Moose Jaw 6
A four-run second inning gave the Berries control of the game early, and they’d tack on six runs in the fifth for a 10-0 lead. The teams then each put up three runs in the sixth before Saskatoon added single runs to their ledger in the seventh and eighth. A three-run ninth for the Express would make things a touch closer, but there would be no comeback for the home team.
With their record-setting season on the line, the Berries would get big performances from a pair of their veterans in Carter Beck and Corey Wouters -- both members of the inaugural Berries team that lost to Moose Jaw in the East Final last season.
Beck would go 3-for-6 with a run scored and four RBI, including a two-run double that scored Wouters and Jalen Freeman in the second inning before tacking a solo home run in the eighth.
Wouters finished 3-for-5 with two runs while also picking up four RBI, while Freeman joined Ethan Murdoch in picking up a pair of runs and knocked in two. Mason Roell and Nathan Houston each scored three runs.
Moose Jaw had only five hits on the night, with Austin Gurney hitting a double that scored Ben Waliczek with one of their runs in the sixth. Robert Estrada and Tanner DeGrazia also had a run scored and RBI apiece.
Merek Yeager had a quality start on his way to picking up the win for Saskatoon, allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits over six innings. Colin Plain pitched into the ninth in relief and gave up Moose Jaw’s three-run rally before Dallen Rude finished things off.
Rod Guardiola took the loss, allowing four runs on four hits in the first two innings. Five pitchers saw action in relief.
The two teams will wrap up their series on Friday night, first pitch at Cairns Field in Saskatoon at 7 p.m.
