Ready For A Busy Week

The new week arrives for the Moose Jaw Miller Express as they look to move past a tough end to last week. Moose Jaw has had the past three days off after losing back-to-back games to the Edmonton Prospects on Thursday, 12-7, and Friday, 8-7, last week. That has the Miller Express’ record at 2-2 heading into their Central Division battle with the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets on Tuesday night in the Bridge City. “They were real tight games (against Edmonton), we kept them close, they just didn’t go our way, every time we would make a couple mistakes that cost us the games,” said Ben Douglas, first baseman with the Millers. “We could have easily had both of them, which is what really sucks about those games.” Despite getting out to early leads in both games against the Prospects, the Millers couldn’t find a way to hold the lead, costing themselves with errors in the field. “Right now we’re hitting well, we’re pitching well, we have a lot of strikes behind thrown, we just need to pick it up defensively,” said Douglas. “It’s good that this is happening at the start of the year and not at the end, we can build off that and start getting it cleaner at the end and finishing games harder and then we’ll start coming out on top instead of giving up leads.” Saskatoon is coming into Tuesday’s game on a bit of a downturn as well, having lost their last two games, dropping their record to 2-4 on the year. Moose Jaw won their only meeting of the season on opening night, knocking off the Yellow Jackets, 9-4, at Ross Wells Park. Douglas said that win gives them some confidence heading into their next showdown. “It feels good getting a division win for one and then knowing that we’re going to play them a lot of times, we should be able to go out there and do it again,” he said. This is Douglas’ first season back in his hometown. He said he’s happy to be home for the summer and back playing with the Miller Express after a couple of seasons away. “It’s great not having to move around, getting to be at home and see the family,” said Douglas on his return to Moose Jaw following his junior season at McMurry University. Douglas is expected to be a key piece of the Millers offence this season at first base as he makes his return from Tommy John surgery last year that forced him to miss the season. “Last summer wasn’t the greatest having surgery, but it’s good. It still has little tinges every now and then, but other than that it’s pretty solid,” said Douglas regarding his elbow injury. He hit .288 and led McMurry University with 13 doubles in his return to the diamond. He’s currently hitting .294 through four games to start the season with Moose Jaw. Douglas has two RBI and four walks for a healthy .429 on-base percentage. After traveling to Saskatoon tonight (7:00pm, Cairns Field), the Millers will return home for a two-game set against the Okotoks Dawgs. They’ll square off at Ross Wells Park on Wednesday and Thursday.