SASKATOON -- The Saskatoon Berries have seen the Western Canadian Baseball League’s longest winning streak this season come to an end -- but as one might expect, it was by the closest of margins.
The Regina Red Sox scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning and would hold on for a 6-4 victory in Saskatoon, ending the Berries’ win streak at 11. The Moose Jaw Miller Express were the only other Saskatchewan team in action on Saturday night and dropped a 7-5 decision to the Lethbridge Bulls despite a late-game comeback.
Regina 6, Saskatoon 4
The Red Sox caught a bit of luck in the extra inning, as after Jory Graves had scored to take the lead, an error on a Matthew Fox single would see Riley Bender and Ian Montz also score to give Regina a 3-1 lead heading into Saskatoon’s half.
Ethan Menard would get one back for the Berries, but David Hankins shut the door from there, securing the victory for Regina.
The contest was largely a pitching duel from start to finish. Regina’s Blake Johnson and Saskatoon’s Matt Whitney each went six innings and had quality starts, with Johnson allowing a single unearned run on two hits and Whitney two runs on 10 hits.
Hankins took over for Regina in the seventh and allowed a pair of runs the rest of the way while picking up the win. Clay Mixon was the losing pitcher after tossing the ninth and 10th and giving up the winning runs to the Red Sox.
Matthew Fox was seeing the ball well at the plate for Regina, going 4-for-5 with a double and RBI, while Montz finished with three hits and also scored a pair of runs.
It was a rare power outage for Saskatoon batters as they had only six hits on the night, with Evan Janner getting one of those and also crossing the plate.
Saskatoon falls to 25-4 on the season and remain in first place in the East Division, 5 ½ games up on the Regina Red Sox. Regina improves to 15-14 and remain in third in the East.
Lethbridge 7, Moose Jaw 5
The Bulls got off to a good start at Ross Wells Park, scoring three runs in the second inning and another two in the third to take a quick 5-2 lead. They’d add single runs in the seventh and ninth before the Express put together a last-ditch rally with three runs in their half of the final inning, but the home team would be unable to get any closer.
Will Edwards had the big hit in that final frame for Moose Jaw, belting a three-run home run that also scored Thomas Soto and Bel Waliczek. Soto scored a pair of runs and Eduardo Saenz was the only other Express batter with more than one hit.
Brennan McTavish and Luke Wheatley each hit home runs for the Bulls, with Wheatley finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI. J.C. Spinosa hit a pair of doubles as part of his three hits for the Bulls, Adonis Bernal was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.
Levi Abbott had a quality start and was the winning pitcher for Lethbridge, allowing two unearned runs on six hits over six innings and striking out six.
Joe Gutierrez allowed five runs on seven hits in 2 ⅓ as Moose Jaw’s starter and took the loss.
Moose Jaw falls to 13-17 and are fourth in the East, 2 ½ games back of Regina, Lethbridge is now 18-11 and second in the West.
All five Saskatchewan teams are in action Sunday, with Lethbridge at Moose Jaw (2:05 pm.), Saskatoon at Regina (4 p.m.) and Swift Current at Weyburn (7:05 p.m.).
