MOOSE JAW -- The Saskatoon Berries are a single win away from securing a piece of Western Canadian Baseball League history.
The Berries downed the Weyburn Beavers 5-4 on Wednesday night for their 43rd win of the season, and as a result need a single victory over their last five games to tie the Sylvan Lake Gulls for the most wins in the regular season.
Sylvan Lake set the record of 44 wins during the 2024 campaign.
The Berries will take their first shot at history on Thursday in Regina, with that contest taking place at 7 p.m. at Currie Field.
Only one other game involving Saskatchewan teams took place on Wednesday, with the Regina Red Sox putting up one of the biggest innings in recent memory to take a 20-11 win at home over the Moose Jaw Miller Express.
Saskatoon 5, Weyburn 4
Mason Roell secured the walk-off victory for the Berries, hitting a base-loaded two-out single to score Evan Janner with the game-winning run.
Roell’s hit was his team-leading third of the night and included a two-run home run in the first inning.
Weyburn tied the game in the second thanks to a two-run homer from Zach Tanabe and then took the lead in the fifth when Ryan Muizelaar hit another two-run round-tripper for a 4-2 Beavers lead.
Carter Beck got one back for Saskatoon in the bottom of the fifth, hitting a two-out triple and then scoring on a Cooper Wesslund single. The Berries then tied things up in the seventh when Beck hit his second triple of the game to bring home Janner.
Merek Yeager started for the Berries and allowed four runs on six hits over five innings, striking out six. Jacob Spencer tossed three shutout innings of relief before Clay Mixon put up a scoreless ninth and earned the win.
Jamin Smith had a quality start for Weyburn, allowing four runs, two earned on six hits while going 6 ⅓ innings. Logan Kinter pitched the final three innings and was the losing pitcher.
Weyburn falls to 13-38 and remain in fifth place in the East, three games up on Swift Current.
Regina 20, Moose Jaw 11
A six-run fifth inning and four-run seventh saw Moose Jaw build an 11-7 lead in Regina, but the Red Sox flipped the script in a major way in the eighth.
Regina would send 16 batters to the plate, racking up seven hits and taking advantage of four walks and a hit batter to score 12 runs in one of the biggest single-inning offensive outbursts in the WCBL this season.
James Wright did a game’s worth of damage in the eighth inning alone, hitting a single, a triple and knocking in four runs.
Rafael Jackson and Brady Bye each finished with three hits and three runs scored for Regina, while Jalen Meyers had three RBI. The Red Sox also took advantage of 14 walks allowed by Moose Jaw pitchers, with Riley Bender drawing four free passes himself.
Austin Gurney was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for the Express, while Thomas Soto went 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs.
Jason Moist started on the mound for Regina and allowed seven runs on six hits in 4 ⅓; Sam Baker was the winning pitcher after holding Moose Jaw to two unearned runs on four hits over the final three innings.
Moose Jaw ended up using eight pitchers on the night -- including four in the eighth inning -- with Westin Walls being saddled with the loss.
Regina improves to 26-25 and are now four games ahead of 22-29 Moose Jaw in the race for third place in the East Division. Moose Jaw has five games remaining, meaning any combination of two Red Sox wins and/or two Miller Express losses will clinch third for Regina.
The Miller Express are back in action Thursday when they host Weyburn, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. at Ross Wells Park.
