Written by Jay D Haughton Tuesday, Aug 08 2023
After excitingly sweeping the Sylvan Lake Gulls on Friday and Saturday, the Moose Jaw Miller Express kept that winning attitude going into the start of the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) playoffs on Monday night.
They scored seven unanswered runs to take down the Swift Current 57s 7-2 last night in Game 1 of the East Division semi-finals.
Moose Jaw now has the 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Dawson Tweet continued his offensive dominance in the playoffs, as he finished the game 3-for-5 with two doubles, a single, and three RBIs. Austin Gurney had a pair of hits including a solo home run.
Julian Gonzalez pitched four scoreless innings allowing only one hit while striking out five Swift Current players for the win.
Swift Current struck first in Monday’s affair. Justin Barnes picked up a lead-off walk to start the second inning, and then two batters later Brody Alexandre would bring him home after blasting a two-run home run to deep center field for the early 2-0 lead.
Moose Jaw responded in their half of the second inning, as Austin Gurney would lead off with a solo home run to get the Miller Express on the board and cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Miller Express turned up the heat in the third inning and added a pair of runs to take a 3-2 lead.
Bobby Pokorney got on base after a one-out single, and then Thomas Soto ended up on second base after an error by the third basemen.
The very next batter, Dawson Tweet picked up his first hit of the postseason with a two-run double.
In the fourth inning, Greyson Barrett blasted his first home run of the postseason to give Moose Jaw the 4-2 lead.
Moose Jaw would pull away in the fifth inning, adding two runs after Dawson Tweet and Austin Gurney would both get on base and drive in a run apiece to extend their lead to 6-2.
With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Swift Current’s Luke Addison would walk Thomas Soto to bring home Moose Jaw’s seventh run of the night and give them the 7-2 lead.
That is how the game would finish, with Moose Jaw walking away with the 7-2 win and a 1-0 series lead.
Moose Jaw will be looking for the two-game series sweep, as they are Swift Current on Tuesday for Game 2, which gets going at 7:05 p.m. at Mitchell Field.
If a Game 3 is needed, it will be played on Wednesday night at Ross Wells Park, starting at 7:05 p.m.