The Okotoks Dawgs are on the brink of elimination after turning in one of their worst performances in their six-year history in a 12-2 loss to the Medicine Mat Mavericks last night at Seaman Stadium.
The victory gave the Mavs a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Western Major Baseball League quarterfinal series.
The Dawgs committed five errors in what was a sloppy effort by the home team.
Okotoks fell behind 4-0 after three innings, but they had a chance to claw back into the game, when after pushing a run across to close the gap to 4-1, they had the bases loaded with nobody out, but were unable to scratch across another run.
The Mavs then scored seven runs in the top of the fifth to put the game away at 11-1. Dawgs starter Ryan Rogers looked to get out of the fifth inning jam with a double-play ball to second baseman Rylan Chin who airmailed the throw to shortstop Trace Tam-Sing and into left field. The Mavericks capitalized on the error scoring six runs in the inning.
Medicine Hat starter Colton Rudd kept the Dawgs off-balance with his location and off-speed stuff in picking up the win.
Okotoks needs to win tonight at Seaman Stadium at 7 p.m. to keep the series alive. Connor Russell gets the start for Okotoks.
If Game 5 is needed it will be played Saturday in Medicine Hat at 7 p.m.
For ticket information call 403-262-3 94 (DAWG).
In other WMBL playoff action, the defending champions Regina Red Sox swept the Weyburn Beavers as a result of their 10-2 victory last night.
The other games, Swift Current Indians versus the Lethbridge Bulls and Melville taking on Moose Jaw were cancelled due to rain. Swift Current leads its series 2-0, while Moose Jaw and Melville are tied at 1-1.
