If it wasn’t for bad luck, the Moose Jaw Miller Express wouldn’t have any luck at all as of late.
The Express dropped their sixth-straight Western Canadian Baseball League decision on Thursday night, falling 4-2 to the Brooks Bombers at Ross Wells Park.
The score might seem fairly pedestrian by baseball standards, but with the number of stellar defensive plays the Bombers made on the night, it was anything but.
The Brooks infield was on point throughout the game, with a handful of diving stops and amazing throws backing starter Matt Vasquez to six innings of shutout ball and helping hold Moose Jaw scoreless until the ninth inning before landing the victory.
The Express fell to 28-21 with the loss, but thanks to Regina falling in Lethbridge on Friday night, they remain tied with the Red Sox for first place in the East Division, three games up on Swift Current.
“Tonight, we didn’t hit the ball like we’ve been hitting it and that’s going to happen,” said Express assistant coach Cory Olafson. ‘The offence didn’t show up until the ninth inning, but at the same time were hitting balls pretty hard that they made plays on. That’s the way it goes, that’s baseball.”
Brooks did almost all their damage in the first inning, scoring three runs off starter Kellan Voggesser and taking a 3-0 lead.
Thing is, Voggesser was lights out from there, allowing only five more hits over the next five innings and striking out eight on his way to yet another quality start.
Jesse Scholtz and Ethan Merk each tossed scoreless innings of relief before Triston Seitz allowed a run on two hits in the ninth.
Moose Jaw’s offence got going in the bottom of the inning, with Joe Osborn knocking home Bryan Reyes for their first run and Dawson Tweet singling home Austin Gurney to get Moose Jaw within a pair. Luke Shekeryk came to the plate as the tying run, but a strikeout would bring the game to an end.
Reyes finished the game 2-for-4 with a double and his run in the ninth to lead the offence.
As rough as things are going at the moment, Moose Jaw remains confident another winning streak is in the books -- especially if they run into a team that makes a few fewer infield stops in the future.
“I think the confidence is there, the guys know what we can do out there,” Olafson said. “We hit balls hard tonight, their shortstop made some great plays out there and took two or three hits off the board on us… they were defensively on their game for sure today.”
The Miller Express are back in action for two games against Fort McMurray on Friday and Saturday night, with game time 7:05 p.m. for both contests.
