Express oust Bulls 4-1

By Lethbridge Herald on July 13, 2023.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Cardel Dick slides back safely to first place as Moose Jaw Miller Express's Greyson Barrett waits for the throw over during Western Canadian Baseball League action at Spitz Stadium on Thursday night.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Moose Jaw Miller Express used strong pitching and timely at bats to beat the Lethbridge 4-1 on Thursday night at Spitz Stadium.

“Moose Jaw’s a pretty good team,” said Bulls catcher Cardel Dick, who scored the lone run for the Bulls.

“You know they’re the best in the league right now. So we knew they were going to be tough. But I thought we came out; we should’ve hit (off) their guy a little better than we did. But there’s always tomorrow (meaning Friday). So we’ll come back and get them tomorrow (meaning Friday).”

Moose Jaw opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning.

An Austin Gurney ground out to the first baseman resulted in Dawson Tweet scoring from third base.

Julio Acosta hit a two-out single to score Nate Mensik.

“Maybe a little bit,” said Dick, on Moose Jaw’s two early runs taking the wind out of their sails.

Gabe Soto kept the Bulls at bay for his five innings of work as he gave five hits and striking out three batters.

 The Bulls finally cracked the Express’s night of strong pitching and defence in the sixth inning.

Kalem Haney stepped up to the plate with two outs and hit a double to bring Dick in  to cut Moose Jaw’s lead to 2-1.

Acosta continued his solid play at the plate as he hit a one-out double in the top of the ninth to score Gurney and give Moose a Jaw a 3-1 lead.

Acosta scored on a Dougie Delacruz single to increase the visitors lead to 4-1.

Bulls pitcher Kole Jessamine kept his team in it for a majority of the game on the mound as he went seven innings, while allowing two runs on six hits.

“Kole was fantastic,” said head coach Chance Wheatley.

“He pounded the zone and yeah he pitched fantastic, and you know, we need to capitalize on those starts and win those games.”

The Bulls left nine runners on base.

“Yeah that’s sort of been the story this year for us,” said Dick.

“We’ve been hot, we’ve been getting guys on and then all of sudden we get guys on and can’t cash them. But I believe we’re going to figure that out and then we’ll be a team to be reckoned with.”