Written by Jay D Haughton Wednesday, Jul 05 2023
It was a showdown of the top two teams within the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) on Tuesday night, which featured the Moose Jaw Miller Express and the Okotoks Dawgs.
Moose Jaw was able to prevail with a 6-3 win thanks to some suburb pitching and very timely at-bats to extend their winning streak to four games.
Starter, Kellan Voggesser pitched three shutout innings allowing no hits, while striking out three. Jake King picked up the win in relief allowing only one run through four innings of work and struck out six in the win.
Haldon Craig and Brayan Villar each pitched an inning to close out the game.
Luke LaChance and Dougie Delacruz each had two hits apiece, while Dawson Tweet, Julio Acosta, Chaz Poppy, and Thomas Soto each picked up a hit.
Each starter would pitch three scoreless innings to start the game, and then King would shut out the top of the fourth inning to set up what was the turning point in Tuesday’s win.
Moose Jaw would end up scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-0 lead.
The Dawgs would get on the board in the top of the seventh to make it 4-1, but the Miller Express responded with a two-run bottom half to extend their lead to 6-1.
Okotoks wouldn’t go down without a fight, as they would pick up two runs in the top of the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough as Villar would get the three outs, he needed to secure the 6-3 win.
The win improved Moose Jaw’s record to 19-10 on the season and also snapped the Dawgs’ 11-game winning streak.
Moose Jaw’s lead in the WCBL’s East Division remains at four games over the Regina Red Sox.
The two teams will wrap up the two-game weekday series on Wednesday night at Ross Wells Park starting at 7:05 p.m.