Welcome back, Greyson Barrett.
Playing only his third game of the season for the Moose Jaw Miller Express in Lethbridge on Friday, the Texas Wesleyan senior put together a 4-for-4 night that included three doubles as the Express went on to a 9-6 victory in Western Canadian Baseball League action.
The win gives Moose Jaw victories in 11 of their last 12 and sees the local crew improve to 26-11 on the campaign, good enough for a 9 ½ game lead over the Medicine Hat Mavericks.
Barrett played his first game of the season on Wednesday in Okotoks and is now hitting .545 with four doubles and four RBI over his first three games.
It certainly didn’t hurt Moose Jaw to have the rest of the top of the order going off as well.
Dawson Tweet hit lead-off and was 3-for-5 with his league-leading fifth triple to go along with two runs scored and two RBI., while Nate Mensik hit second and went 2-for-4 with a double and three runs scored.
Dougie DelaCruz also had a pair of hits for the Express, while Julio Acosta knocked in a pair of runs.
Moose Jaw got off to a good start with a 3-1 lead in the first inning, but the Bulls would put up three of their own in the fourth to take a 4-3 edge. The Express took control of things in the sixth, though, putting up five runs, and their bullpen would get things done the rest of the way.
Ethan Merk got the start and allowed four runs on 10 hits while striking out five over five innings. Matt Vasquez tossed a scoreless sixth and Cameron Dunn allowed two runs in the seventh, but Julian Gonzalez and Zach Sigmon finished things off by holding the Bulls scoreless over the final two innings.
The league now enters its All-Star break, with six members of the Express -- Tweet, DelaCruz, Wyatt Tweet, Austin Gurney, Brayan Villar and Haldon Craig -- joined by head coach Eric Marriott and assistant coach Michael Gonzalez at the game in Okotoks on Saturday night.
The Miller Express are back in action Monday and Tuesday when they travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Mavericks. Next home action is Wednesday when they host the Swift Current 57’s.
