The Moose Jaw Miller Express hold their own destiny in their hands if they're to make the Western Major Baseball League playoffs.
And if what they showed Thursday against the Regina White Sox is any indication, their grasp on the post-season is most certainly tenuous.
The Express committed three errors - two of which lead to four runs - and wasted a stellar effort from starting pitcher Taylor Elder on their way to a 10-3 loss at Ross Wells Park.
Meanwhile, the Saskatoon Yellow Jackets defeated the Swift Current Indians 11-8, pulling even in the race for the final playoff spot in the Central Division. The Express (13-22) hold two games in hand on Saskatoon (14-23).
The contest started well enough for the Express, as the first inning saw Jon Cotter hit a one-out single, steal second and third and score on a throwing error by Regina catcher Michael Lacombe.
The Red Sox got that back in the second inning and then took the lead for good in the third when Cotter made a rare error at shortstop on a ground ball by Ben VanIderstine, allowing Jason Venya and Raul Cepeda to score.
"I came in to get the hop and it just came up on me and got through... it was 1-1 when that happened and it made it 3-1, and things just seemed to go downhill from there," Cotter said. "The final score was 10-3, but if it wasn't for that who knows what might have happened."
The Express had chances to get things going as the contest progressed but saw three runners thrown out at second. Beyond that, they were unable to get runners into scoring position despite managing eight hits off Regina starter Eric Zittel.
"We hit a lot of balls hard tonight, we had about three or four line-outs and we only struck out four or five times, so that wasn't bad," Cotter said. "But they were always making plays at the right time and we seemed to always hit it at people."
The Red Sox had no such trouble as they built a 4-1 lead through seven and then poured five runs across in the eighth to put the game away.
The rally started when Elder fielded a bunt by Lacombe but threw the ball into left field when he attempted to get lead runner Chris Colman at third - resulting in Colman and Josh Hughes scoring for 6-1 lead. Ben VanIderstine added a home run in the inning and the route was on.
The error marred an otherwise solid showing from Elder, who gave up only three earned runs of the eight scored against him while striking out 10 in 7 1/3 innings' work.
"It was tough and I made the biggest error myself when I threw the ball into left field," Elder said. "I make that play nine times out of 10 but I got ahead of myself and tried to do too much.
"That was a tough break, but that's baseball."
The Express scored a pair of runs in the final inning but would get no closer.
Cotter finished the game 3-for-4 with a run scored while Chris Gordon was 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Eric McKinney led Regina with a 2-for-5 night that included a pair of home runs.
The Express are back in action this weekend when they travel to Lethbridge for games Friday and Saturday and Medicine Hat Sunday. Their final home game of the season goes Tuesday against Swift Current.
"We'll get it going, we have a chance to turn things around on this road trip and we know we can do it," Elder said. "We definitely have to get two wins out of this trip. Lethbridge will be a tough team and we know we can beat Medicine Hat so we'll see what happens."
Randy Palmer can be reached at 691-1257
