The Moose Jaw Miller Express battled back from an early deficit to edge the Okotoks Dawgs 12-11 in a dramatic extra-inning win on Wednesday night at Ross Wells Park.
It was a rough start for the Miller Express, who gave up five runs in the top of the first inning. But the home side answered quickly, scoring three runs in the bottom half. Austin Gurney delivered a two-run single to bring home Thomas Soto and William Edwards, and Tanner DeGrazia added a sacrifice fly to centre field to plate Gurney and make it a 5-3 game.
Okotoks extended their lead with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings to go up 8-4, but Moose Jaw continued to chip away. In the bottom of the sixth, Edwards ripped a double to score Soto, and Gurney followed with a single to drive in Edwards, cutting the lead to two.
After the Dawgs added another run in the top of the seventh, Ben Waliczek responded with a two-run single in the bottom of the frame, scoring Eduardo Saenz and DeGrazia to make it 9-8.
Okotoks pushed their lead back to two in the top of the eighth, but the Miller Express refused to quit. In the bottom half, Saenz hit a sacrifice fly to score Edwards and Gustavo Soto followed with a game-tying single that brought in Jackson Martin.
Both teams scored in the ninth, with Moose Jaw’s run coming off an Edwards single that scored Waliczek to force extra innings.
In the 10th, Jacob Glazener stole third base to put the winning run 90 feet away. DeGrazia came through with a clutch single to drive him in, sealing the walk-off 12-11 victory.
The Miller Express are right back at it Thursday night for the second of back-to-back games against the Dawgs at Ross Wells Park. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.