MOOSE JAW -- The Moose Jaw Miller Express came up just short of another comeback against the Okotoks Dawgs on Thursday night in Western Canadian Baseball League action, but in the end just couldn’t find the final two runs they needed.
The Dawgs would go on to an 11-9 victory at Ross Wells Park in Moose Jaw, while the Weyburn Beavers picked up their second straight win thanks to a 7-4 at Tom Laing Park over the Regina Red Sox.The Saskatoon Berries were rained out in Brooks and will play a doubleheader with the Bombers on Friday.
Other results Thursday saw the Medicine Hat down the Swift Current 17-8, Sylvan Lake take an 8-1 win over Energy City and Lethbridge down Fort McMurray 3-0.
Okotoks 11, Moose Jaw 9
The Express took a 4-0 lead out of the third inning, but Okotoks steadily chipped away before a four-spot in the seventh made it a 7-4 Dawgs edge and they’d add another four in the eighth to go up by seven.
Moose Jaw got four back in the eighth, though, and put another across the plate in the ninth before falling two runs short in their rally.
Will Edwards had another good game at the plate for the Express, going 3-for-5 with a run scored and two runs batted in to boost his team-leading average to .415. Jackson Yeager hit his fourth home run of the season and had two runs and two RBI, Tanner DeGrazia also had a round-tripper and knocked in three runs.
Every member of the Dawgs line-up had at least one hit, led by Jake Skaggs going 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs and two RBI. Jacob Wrubleski also had a solid outing with a 2-for-4 outing that included a homer, two runs and five RBI, while Zane Skansi scored three runs and added a home run to his ledger.
Brody Forno started for Okotoks and allowed four runs over five innings of work, Cade Langford earned the win after pitching a scoreless sixth. Chase Tucker picked up the save.
Westin Walls had a nice bounceback start for Moose Jaw, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings. Josh Bourbeau was the losing pitcher, giving up eight runs on eight hits over 1 ⅓ innings. Moose Jaw product Rylan Caplette made his first appearance on the mound for the Express and allowed a single hit over the final 1 ⅔ innings.
Okotoks improved to 8-5 and are second in the West Division, Moose Jaw fell to 5-7 and remain in fourth in the East.
Weyburn 7, Regina 4
The Beavers and Red Sox found themselves in a pitching duel and were tied 1-1 through the first six innings before Weyburn took the lead with a pair in the seventh. Regina rallied with three in the top of the eighth for a 4-3 edge, but Weyburn would come right back with four in their half of the inning and go on to secure the victory.
Owen McConnell continued his stellar start to the campaign for the Beavers with a quality start that saw him give up a single run on six hits over six innings while striking out seven. He now has the third-best earned run average among WCBL starters at 1.29.
Logan Kinter would end up with the win after allowing only two hits over the final 1 ⅔ innings.
As good as McConnell has been, Blake Johnson has been even better for Regina and had an impressive showing of his own on Thursday, giving up a single run on four hits over six innings and striking out eight. That run was the first Johnson has given up in three starts this season, with his WCBL second-best ERA now sitting at 0.56.
Nicolas Yard was the losing pitcher after giving up four runs on three hits while pitching the seventh and eighth.
Ryan Dauphinee led Weyburn at the plate with a 3-for-5 effort that included a triple, run and four RBI.
Jaden Collura went 2-for-3 with a triple, run and two RBI for Regina.
Weyburn improved to 4-7 and are fifth in the East Division, Regina fell to 6-5 and are in third place.
Friday action sees Weyburn at Regina (7:05 p.m.), Moose Jaw at Swift Current (7:05 p.m.) and Saskatoon playing their doubleheader in Brooks (5:35 p.m. and 8:05 p.m.).
