By Randy Palmer
Moose Jaw put up big inning early, ride stellar pitching performance to 5-3 win over Berries in Game 3; WCBL Final to begin Thursday in Okotoks
The Moose Jaw Miller Express are off to the Western Canadian Baseball League championship final.
The Express put together an early lead thanks to the bat of Joe Osborn and rode the arm of Westin Walls the rest of the way to take a 5-3 victory over the Saskatoon Berries in Game 3 of East Division Final on Tuesday night.
The win gives Moose Jaw a two-games-to-one victory in the best-of-three series and will see the Express take on the Okotoks Dawgs in the WCBL Final beginning Thursday in Okotoks.
It’s the second time the two teams meet for the championship in the last three years, with Okotoks defeating Moose Jaw in three games to claim the title in 2022.
The Express got off to another fast start on Tuesday, this time putting up three runs in the second inning to take a crucial early lead.
After Nathan Houston and Ethan Bear hit back-to-back singles to lead off the frame, Osborn took a 3-2 offering from Saskatoon starter Carter Kopp over the outfield fence for a three-run home run, giving Moose Jaw the early edge.
Saskatoon got two runs back in the fourth, with Ethan Menard scoring on an error and Jaden Lamothe knocking home Jalen Freeman one batter later to make it a one-run game.
The two teams exchanged runs in the fifth, and it remained a two-run game until the seventh when Houston hit a one-out triple and came around to score on a Bear fly-out one batter later.
While it wasn’t the offensive fireworks the Express had put together in their 17-6 win over Saskatoon in Game 2, the five runs proved to be more than enough for Walls to get the job done on the mound.
The Terrell, Texas product went coast-to-coast with one of the best pitching performances of the season for the Express, giving up only three runs, two earned, while scattering nine hits, striking out 11 and walking only one for the complete-game win.
Kopp lasted 1 ? for Saskatoon, giving up three runs on five hits, before Colin Plain allowed a single run on four hits over the next 3 ?. Cory Lawson then tossed the final four innings, allowing a run on three hits and striking out three.
Osborn ended up going 2-for-4 with a run and four runs batted in, while Houston was 4-for-4 with two runs scored, boosting his playoffs batting average to .500. Robert Estrada also had a solid game at the plate, going 3-for-5.
Lamothe and McGwire Turner were each 2-for-4 at the plate for Saskatoon.
All eyes now turn to the WCBL Final, which will see Game 1 in Okotoks on Thursday, Game 2 in Moose Jaw on Friday and the deciding game, if necessary, back in Okotoks on Saturday.
First pitch for Game 2 will be at 7:05 p.m. at Ross Wells Park.