Weekend Closes w/ Extra Innings Loss

The Moose Jaw Miller Express showed plenty of fight on Sunday night at Ross Wells Park, but they couldn’t turn that into a win.

Moose Jaw finished their three-game home stand at 1-2 after falling 4-3 in ten innings on Sunday night against the Swift Current Indians, splitting their two weekend games.

The Millers had runners on the corners with two outs in the tenth inning, but Andrew Wilson flew out to right field to end the game. It was a well hit ball that just couldn’t find the gap in right centre.

The game was tight throughout with Moose Jaw leading 2-1 after two innings and Swift Current tying the game at 2-2 in the fifth.

Both teams had chances to take the lead over the next three innings with Moose Jaw coming the closest in the bottom of the eighth when Miles Orscheln was thrown out at home on a bang-bang play.

Tempers flared after that play with Orscheln sliding hard into home and Swift Current catcher Jake Garcia taking exception with that. They had words and the benches cleared, but nothing came of it.

The Indians were fired up after the play and they responded with a run in the top of the ninth, benefitting from an error by Orscheln at third and Nate Ackerman coming in to score on a wild pitch.

Moose Jaw answered in the home half of the frame. Derek Cornell got things started with a lead-off single, Andrew Wilson bunted him over to second and Cornell advanced to third on a passed ball.

A walk by Ben Douglas put runners on the corners for Marvin Malone, who came through with an RBI-single to tie the game.

Another wild pitch put runners on second and third with Orscheln coming to the plate for Moose Jaw, but A.J. McElderry struck him out to send the game to extras.

Swift Current used some heads up base running in the tenth to score the go-ahead run. With runners on first and second, Tyler Enns hit into what looked like an inning ending double play, but he beat out the throw to first and Drew Brooks turned the corner at third to score the winning run.

Tanner McAninch took the loss for Moose Jaw, going 2 1/3 innings of relief, giving up two runs — just one earned — on three walks with no hits. He struck out one.

J.J. Santa Cruz was solid in the start, but the offence couldn’t back him up during his six innings of work. Santa Cruz gave up two runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and five walks.

McElderry picked up the win for Swift Current, giving up one run on three hits over four innings. He had three strikeouts and two walks.

Darren Kolk got the final out for the save.

Cornell was 3-for-6 on the night with one run scored, one RBI and a stolen base. Orscheln was 2-for-5 with a run scored and Ryan Thrasher went 2-for-4 with a run scored.