Miller Express take advantage of a big sixth inning to defeat Bulls

By Lethbridge Herald on July 14, 2023.

Lethbridge Bulls Pitcher Colby Snider fires a pitch to the plate during the seventh inning of Western Canadian Baseball League action against the Moose Jaw Miller Express at Spitz Stadium on Friday night.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Moose Jaw Miller Express used a five-run sixth inning to propel them to a 9-6 win over the Lethbridge Bulls on Friday night at Spitz Stadium and sweeping the two-game series, as both teams head into the All-Star weekend.

“I thought we came out with a better approach … and, you know, it didn’t go our way today, but I thought we actually played alright,” said Bulls head coach Chance Wheatley.

The Express did not waste any time getting on scoreboard early, as they managed to score three runs in the first inning to start the game .

Greyson Barrett, who hits in the third spot in the batting order, hit a double to score Dawson Tweet to open the scoring.

Nate Mensik made the score 2-0 for the Miller Express when he scored on a Julio Acosta ground out.

Barrett made it 3-0 when he scored on an Austin Gurney ground out, which was the second out of the inning.

The Bulls’ Mikey McGinnis hit a single and moments after, reached second base on an error, and on the same play Josh Kabayama scored the home team’s first run in the bottom of the first.

McGinnis came up in the third inning and belted a double to score Cardel Dick and brought the Bulls to within one run of Moose Jaw early in the game.

The next batter was Carter Claerhout and he hit a single to score Nick Gravel and tie the game 3-3.

Lethbridge took their only lead of the game when Torrin Vaselenak hit a single to score McGinnis and give the Bulls a 4-3 lead after three innings.

Moose Jaw turned it on in the sixth inning as they exploded for five runs to take an 8-4 lead on the Bulls.

“They  just (Moose Jaw) had some good swings there and yeah that was the turning point in the game,” said Wheatley.

It began with a Tweet triple, which cashed in two runs.

Barrett came up to bat later in the inning and hit a double to score another two runs.

Barrett scored the fifth run of the inning on an Acosta single.

Lethbridge cut a little more into Moose Jaw’s lead in the seventh.

McGinnis continued his productive night at the plate in the seventh as he hit a double to score Kabayama from second base to make the score 8-5.

McGinnis brought the Bulls to within two runs as he scored on a Claerhout ground out.

Moose Jaw scored their ninth run of the contest in the eighth when Barrett hit a double to score Mensik.

The Bulls (20-18) will be back on the field Monday in Okotoks against the Dawgs.

Devin Benavides is taking Cole Bormann’s spot in today’s All-Star Game in Okotoks.

Bormann is dealing with an injury.