The Okotoks Dawgs swarmed the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the fourth inning with eight runs and took game three 10-4 on Tuesday night to move onto the WCBL finals.
The Moose Jaw Miller Express moved on to the finals after beating the Saskatoon Berries 5-3 and will now face the Dawgs in the finals which start on Thursday. Okotoks now find themselves two wins away from completing the three-peat.
Not only did the Dawgs come back from being down 0-1 in the series, but they also came back in the game itself after trailing the Gulls 2-0.
Brock Townsend made the start on the mound for the Dawgs and pitched a full four innings. Ryan McFarland, Aaron Hammer, Zane Morrison, Gavin Wuschke, and Ashton Luera came into the game as relievers.
McFarland got the win with Morrison and Wuschke not allowing a single hit while on the mound. Luera closed the game at the bottom of the ninth and got three strikeouts on a desperate Gulls team.
Josh Tucker made the start on the mound for the Gulls and came in with a 13-strikeout performance against the Brooks Bombers in the first round. Tucker and the Gulls controlled the scoreboard with a 2-0 lead after the bottom of the first.
The Dawgs exploded with eight runs at the top of the fourth, taking full control of the ball game. The Dawgs would see the whole batting order go up to hit in the inning with Caleb Lumbard, Connor Crowson, and Logan Grant visiting the plate twice.
Lumbard got the first Dawgs run of the evening, and Alejandro Cazorla picked up the RBI on a single. Ricky Sanchez then picked up three RBIs when he hit a double and got "Mr. August" Brendan Luther, Cazorla, and Aidan Rose across home plate.
Jarrett Burney helped Sanchez in for a run after hitting a single and giving the Dawgs a 5-2 lead in the scoring-heavy fourth inning. Lumbard continued to punish the Gulls hitting a double and picking up two RBIs getting Tucker Zdunich and Burney in for runs. Lumbard added the final run of the inning, starting off the scoring and finishing the scoring in the inning. Crowson picked up the RBI on Lumbard's second run of the inning on a single.
The Dawgs chased Tucker off the mound and put up a very comfortable lead. Okotoks added two more runs at the top of the fifth to put a stamp on the game.
Luther hit a double to score Cazorla in for the Dawgs' ninth run of the game. Sanchez followed Luther with a double of his own and got Luther in for the Dawgs' final run of the game.
The Gulls would manage to get two more runs at the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop the Dawgs on their quest for the three-peat.
The WCBL Finals is another best-of-three series with game one being hosted at Seaman Stadium on Thursday at 7:05 pm.
Game two will be in Moose Jaw on Friday for a 7:05 pm start and, if necessary, game three will be played in Okotoks on Saturday with a 7:05 pm start time.