The victory came on the heels of a 7-3 loss to the Dawgs on Tuesday to open the set.
The Express improved to 6-6 on the season and sit four games back of the Weyburn Beavers for first in the WCBL and 2.5 games up on Melville for the final playoff spot.
Express 3, Okotoks 2
Gallagher surrendered a two-out home run to the Dawgs’ Brett Esau in the first inning but was lights out from there, tossing six innings and giving up only two hits the rest of the way while striking out seven and walking three.
Okotoks starter Justin Hammergren was his equal until the fifth inning when he ran into control issues and gave up back-to-back walks to Devon Farrell and Markus Melendez. That set the stage for Campbell, who singled up the middle to score Melendez before Michael Borst hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Farrell and give the Express a 2-1 lead.
There the score would remain until the bottom of the eighth, when Campbell walked, advanced to second on another Borst sacrifice, stole third on a passed ball and scored on an error by the catcher on the same play.
The Dawgs would score one in their half of the ninth but get no closer as Borst gunned down Richard Macarenas at home as he tried to score from second base for the final out.
Michael Ross pitched 2 2/3 innings of relief for the Express, giving up a run on two hits and striking out four before Jack Gamba got the final out and the save.
Okotoks 7, Express 3
The Express fell behind early and could never recover in the series opener, trailing 4-0 through five before Okotoks added single markers in the seventh, eighth and ninth to put things away.
Geordie McDougall hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to bring things to within four runs, but the Express would get no closer.
Gallagher was 2-for-4 with a triple, run scored and RBI while Andres Garza also had two hits in four trips to the plate.
Jeff Nicolosi got the start and went five innings, surrendering four runs on eight hits and striking out four.
Moose Jaw product Reece Helland tossed two innings of relief and gave up a run on two hits; Nathan Slobodian closed out the game with two innings of work and surrendered the final two Okotoks runs.
The series continues Thursday night. Game time is 7 p.m.
