Millers Waiting To Return

After opening the season with an exciting win over their Central Division rivals, the Moose Jaw Miller Express weren’t able to get on the field for the rest of the weekend thanks to the rain.

Saturday night’s follow-up at Ross Wells Park against the Melville Millionaires was postponed, while the Miller Express’ trip to Weyburn on Sunday was called off as well.

Getting rained out has given Moose Jaw a long wait before their next action on Wednesday in Regina.

“It certainly makes it a little frustrating,” said head coach Michael Hunt. “We only have specific days off in the summer and some of them are designed for specific rest, other ones are designed for possible rainout days later in the year.”

Moose Jaw had a light schedule already to start the year with only three games this week. They will now play four games in the first 12 days of the regular season.

The rainouts are also frustrating for the squad because they weren’t able to build off the momentum gained during Friday’s 9-4 win over the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets.

“It was disappointing that we couldn’t continue on with the mojo that we had going on Friday,” said Hunt. “But the players understand that it’s out of our hands and we’ll just have to pick it up on Wednesday against Regina.”

The team will try to stay busy on Monday and Tuesday to stay fresh ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with the Red Sox at Currie Field.

“We have some team activities (Monday) and we’ll work out again on Tuesday,” said Hunt. “We’ve got guys that need to throw bullpens, so we’ll go inside if we can’t be outside to do that and it will be business as usual as much as possible.”

The plan was to have Todd Leavitt get the start against the Millionaires and he’ll now just be pushed back to Wednesday against Regina. Leavitt posted a 1-2 record in six starts last season with Moose Jaw. He finished the year with 33 strikeouts and 20 walks in 35.2 innings pitched.

The Miller Express will host the Edmonton Prospects on Thursday and Friday at Ross Wells Park before getting Saturday to Monday off. Catch all the action with Marc Smith live from Currie Field Wednesday at www.mjmillerexpress.com, reminder that all Miller Express webcasts are AUDIO ONLY.