Bulls rally comes up short

Alate push and one big inning fell just short for the Lethbridge Bulls. The Bulls were defeated 9-7 by the Regina Red Sox in Western Major Baseball League action Friday night at Spitz Stadium and handed their first loss of the year.

After the seventh-inning stretch and Lethbridge trailing 90, the Bulls bats sounded off with a seven-run inning that included a pinch hit grand slam from Dylan Borman.

But the big inning wasn’t enough overcome the earlier Red Sox offence as Regina grabbed a commanding 7-0 lead after three innings and then added two more in the fifth inning on some Bulls misfortune to hand the Bulls, 6-1, their first setback of the season, while the Red Sox improve to 6-2 atop the Eastern Division.

“We came out a little bit flat, but their pitcher (Jordan Scott) threw really well,” said Bulls head coach Jesse Sawyer. “He kept us off balance for six innings and we just couldn’t get a whole lot going. They caught some breaks and we just couldn’t seem to catch any of those breaks.”

The Red Sox jumped all over the Bulls early.

After a scoreless first inning, Regina got the bats going and opened a 4-0 lead.

Regina loaded the bases with none out and took a 2-0 lead as Nolan Ard singled to score Phil Langlois and Antonio Torres.

Derek Slate scored on a fielder's choice to make it 3-0 and Ard scored on a single from Jordan Schulz.

The Red Sox kept it coming with another trio in the third for a 7-0 lead that ended Bulls starter Tanner Jesson-Dalton’s night.

The Bulls caught a bad break in the fifth inning when Regina's Broderick Rodocker hit a grounder to Bulls pitcher Hunter Cunningham with two out, but first baseman Alex Bishop lost the ensuing toss in the sun.

The allowed the Red Sox to load the bases and Griffin Keller brought in another pair of runs with a two-out single to make it 9-0 after five innings.

But the Bulls got the crowd of 802 buzzing in the bottom of the seventh

With Jesse Hillyard already on with a one-out single, Blake McDonald teed off a two-run homer to get the Bulls on the board and cut the lead to 9-2.

Lethbridge kept the inning alive with back-to-back singles from Brett Semeniuk and Ryan Pouwells and loaded the bases on a walk. The Bulls made it 9-3 when Carter Witbeck singled to score Semeniuk as Regina’s Seth Sorensen came on in relief of Scott.

With two out and the bases still loaded, Borman subbed in for Nolan Handley and promptly sent a grand slam to left field to pull the Bulls within two.

“I don’t pinch hit that often,” said Borman. “I was just looking to get the bat on the ball. He was throwing fastballs and he threw me one I could hit. I’m just glad it went over.”

But that’s as close as the Bulls got as Kendal Daniels pitched the eighth for the Red Sox and Kevin Borst came on in the ninth to earn the save.

Jesson-Dalton was tagged for the loss, going three innings and giving up seven runs on nine hits, walking three and striking out one.

Scott earned the win for the Red Sox with six-and-one-thirds innings of work, giving up six runs on nine hits walking four and striking out nine.

The two teams play again tonight at 7:05 at Spitz Stadium.

“It was good for the team, we showed we can hit them,” said Sawyer. “I said to them ‘That’s the beauty of baseball. We get to come back and get another crack at them tomorrow.’ We have to come out and put a better start tomorrow.”

“It’s better than leaving a zero up there,” said Borman. “It gives us a bit of confidence going into tomorrow that we can hit these guys.”

Brady Moxham will get the start in tonight’s game.