Millers ride Mavs for 4th straight win

(Courtesy Marc Smith, DiscoverMooseJaw.com) For the first time since Opening Day, the Moose Jaw Miller Express found their way back over .500 at the end of the night after they won their fourth straight game on Wednesday night at Ross Wells Park.

The Millers won a rain-soaked game, 12-4, over the Medicine Hat Mavericks in Western Major Baseball League action from downtown Moose Jaw, giving them five wins in their last six games and improving their record to 6-5 on the year.

“We all came out with the right attitude and the right positivity going in that game,” said outfielder Cole Warken after a night in which the Millers scored early and often to roll to the lopsided win.

Warken helped lead the offensive onslaught by the Millers as he put up a 4-for-5 night at the plate with a two-run home run in the second inning that helped spark the offence.

The Regina product finished a triple short of the cycle, while driving in two runs and scoring twice as well.

“Throughout the season so far, I was just struggling with my timing and it’s starting to come around, so it feels good,” said Warken, who bumped his average up to .316 on the year.

Moose Jaw finished with 16 hits in the win. They started their scoring in the second when Warken’s two-run homer led to a five-run inning to make it 5-1 after two.

The Millers took full control in the fifth inning, tacking on four more runs, led by two run scoring singles from outfielder Ty Schindel and lead-off hitter Travis Able, who finished 4-for-6 with four RBI.

In the sixth inning, Ben Dalke unleashed a towering shot to centerfield for his WMBL-leading fourth home run of the season. Dalke finished 1-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. He currently leads the WMBL in home runs and RBI, 17, through ten games.

“Everyone’s timing is starting to come around, everyone took about a month off before we got up here and it’s really starting to show what guys were doing at school and it’s going to continue,” said Warken.

The pitching was sharp for Moose Jaw throughout the game as starter Zach McDonald gave up just two runs on four hits in five innings of work to earn his first win of the season. He struck out four and walked just one.

D.J. Martinez, Mitchell Price, Arman Lakhani and Travis Edgar through one inning each to finish off the game, they combined to give up just two more runs on four hits.

Price got into a bit of trouble in the seventh, issuing three walks, but holding the Mavericks to just one. Edgar also walked two in the ninth, but both pitchers struck out two to get out of trouble.

“Our pitching is getting a lot more consistent, the pitchers are filling up the zone that does a lot, not giving up free bases helps you win a lot of games,” said Warken.

The Millers have been winning lately to push their record over .500 for the first time this season. They will continue their six-game in seven-day stretch on Thursday night in Melville and then host Brooks on Friday and Regina on Saturday at Ross Wells.