MEDICINE HAT -- It was a rainy night in the Western Canadian Baseball League on Thursday, leading to only one of four games featuring Saskatchewan teams being played to completion.
That contest ended up being a big win for the Moose Jaw Miller Express, as they cranked out 23 hits on their way to a 19-5 victory over the Medicine Hat Mavericks in Medicine Hat. The Saskatoon Berries and Weyburn Beavers got into the sixth inning before play was suspended, with that game to be picked up tonight in Saskatoon, while the Regina Red Sox and Swift Current 57’s saw their game in Regina cancelled outright.
Moose Jaw 19, Medicine Hat 5
Things were close in the early going as a pair of runs in the fourth gave Medicine Hat a 5-3 lead, but Moose Jaw would take over from there, going ahead 6-4 in the sixth before blowing things wide open with an eight-run seventh inning. The Express would then tack on two more runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to secure the blowout win.
As one might expect, every player in Moose Jaw’s starting line-up had at least a hit, with Ben Waliczek leading the way by going 4-for-4 with four runs scored and a pair of RBI. The Express had only three extra-base hits, with Austin Gurney getting one of those with a solo home run in the fifth. He’d end up with a 3-for-6 night that included three runs and four RBI.
Tanner DeGrazia also hit his third home run of the season in the seventh, with his three-run shot part of a 3-for-5 night that included two runs and five RBI. Robert Estrada and Eduardo Saenz also had three hits apiece.
Johnny Vulcano led the Mavericks offence with a 3-for-4 outing that included a pair of doubles, while Adam Vulcano hit a two-run home run in the second.
Joe Gutierrez got the start on the mound for Moose Jaw and allowed four runs on three hits over four innings, Jacob Glazener pitched a scoreless fifth and ended up as the winning pitcher. Christian Garcia had two innings of shutout relief, Jordan Bauer allowed a single run in the eighth and Josh Bourbeau closed things out with a scoreless ninth.
Gary Dornan went five innings for Medicine Hat and allowed four runs on eight hits, Andrew Kim took the loss after giving up seven runs through the sixth and seventh.
Moose Jaw improves to 15-20 and remain in fourth in the East Division, four games back of Regina. Medicine Hat falls to 23-13 and remain in second place.
Friday action will see Saskatoon and Weyburn finish off their Thursday game before playing their regularly scheduled contest at 7:05 p.m. while Swift Current is at Medicine Hat, also at 7:05 p.m.
