By Randy Palmer
August 13th, 2022
The Moose Jaw Miller Express will have a chance to clinch the Western Canadian Baseball League East Division championship on home soil on Sunday night.
The Express scored five runs over the final four innings to take a 7-2 victory over the Medicine Hat Mavericks in Medicine Hat on Saturday, and as a result will play Game 3 at Ross Wells Park tonight, with first pitch at 7 p.m.
The Doane University connection played a huge role in the outcome of the contest, with all three Tigers products coming through at different times.
Starter Kellan Voggesser did what he has all season with a 12th quality start, allowing two runs on six hits in six innings of work.
Millers MVP Nate Mensik hit a pair of doubles, including a run-scoring knock in the seventh inning and finished 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI, while Joe Osborn hit a two-run home run in the fourth and enjoyed his best outing in an Express uniform, going 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI.
Dawson Tweet picked up right where he left off in the regular season, going 3-for-5 and improving his series average to .500, while Austin Gurney was 3-for-5 and knocked in a pair. Zach Campbell was his usual self at the top of the order, going 2-for-5 with two runs.
The bullpen was lights out for Moose Jaw, as Liam Sommer followed up Voggesser with a scoreless inning, setting the stage for Reece Helland. The Moose Jaw closer got his revenge after seeing a rare outbreak of offence in Game 1, mowing down the side in order in the eighth and ninth and striking out a pair.
The winner of the series will move on to next week’s WCBL Final against the West Division champions, either the Okotoks Dawgs or Sylvan Lake Gulls.