By Randy Palmer
Moose Jaw rolls to 9-3 victory over Beavers,wrap up regular season against Sylvan Lake at home this weekend
Thursday night was one to remember for Moose Jaw Miller Express captain Dawson Tweet.
And it wasn’t because he went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored to lead the team to a 9-3 victory over the Weyburn Beavers in Western Canadian Baseball League action.
When you’ve been hitting .500 most of the campaign, that’s pretty much normal.
No, the reason things were special was because of the ‘U’ often listed next to Tweet’s position in the line-up, indicating he is a ‘utility player’, capable of taking the field in almost any position.
So the Miller Express put that to the test in Weyburn.
Tweet would play all nine positions on the night (see related story), beginning at third base and ending with his first pitching appearance of the season. And thanks to his prior experience all over the diamond, he’d play an errorless game, recording outs on four of the five plays he had in the field before allowing a single run on the mound in the ninth.
The Express, meanwhile, rebounded from losses in their previous two outings with a steady performance at the plate, scoring single runs in the first, fourth and fifth and tacking on two more in the seventh for a 5-0 lead. Another run in the eighth and three more in the top of the ninth ensured that when Tweet — not a regular pitcher — took the mound things would be in good shape.
Austin Gurney joined Tweet in having a solid night at the plate, going 2-or-4 with twp runs scored, while Wyatt Tweet was 2-for-4 with a run and RBI and caught the final inning for his older brother. Thomas Soto also had a pair of hits, adding another run and RBI.
Ethan Merk was his usual self on the mound, going five innings and allowing a single hit while striking out a pair before giving way to Triston Setiz, who continued his impressive string of relief showings in the stretch drive by holding Weyburn to a single hit.
Seitz has now gone four straight appearances without allowing a run, and has allowed only seven hits and two runs in his last 13 ? innings going back to the middle of July.
Bobby Pokorney gave up two runs on four hits over the next two innings before Tweet finished things off, allowing a walk, hit and earned run.
Moose Jaw improved to 36-18 with the win and had hopes of taking over first place in the WCBL on the final weekend of the regular season, but an Okotoks win over Swift Current on Thursday night extended their lead atop the league to three games, meaning that race has been decided.
The Express close out the regular season with two games against the Sylvan Lake Gulls on Friday and Saturday night. Game times for both contests is 7:05 p.m. at Ross Wells Park.
The Miller Express open the 2023 WCBL Playoffs on Monday when they host the Swift Current 57’s for Game 1 of the best-of-three East Division semifinal.