The game started with a bang, ended with a strange play, and in between Moose Jaw made it interesting, as the Bulls clinched second place in the WMBL's West Division Friday night by defeating the Miller Express 8-6.
 

The Bulls jumped out to a 5-1 lead after one inning. Third baseman Jesse Sawyer struck the big blow with a three run homer off Moose Jaw starter Bryant Asnicar that was long gone over the left field wall. Catcher Jamie Mitchell also drove in two runs in the first with a double.
 
The Bulls led 6-2 going to the fourth. But Moose Jaw  scored three runs off starter Alex Tufts without getting a hit. The first two batters of the inning were hit by a pitch, then the number nine hitter reached on an error to score a run. A ground ball to second base and a sacrifice fly brought in the other runs to make it a 6-5 game.
 
The scored remained that way until the eighth inning. Even though the Bulls squandered a golden opportunity in the seventh, when they loaded the bases with none out and failed to score.
 
But catcher/designated hitter Joel Blake has been swinging a hot bat lately. He lead off the bottom of the eighth with a line drive home run to right field. Josh Lowden came up next and reached on a bunt single. He moved to third on a ground ball and a fly ball, then scored on a wild pitch.
 
Steve Hogue entered in the ninth to presumedly close out another game. But everything didn't go as planned. Hogue got lead off hitter Jordan Smith to ground out. Jon Cotter followed with a base hit, Eric Nutzhorn reached on a error, and Brandon Loveridge was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jess Cooper drove in Cotter with an infield single and the bases were still loaded with one out.
 
But then came the unusal play to the end the game. Hogue struck out the veteran Cory Olafson, and the pitch bounced off catcher Jamie Mitchell's shine guard straight back to Hogue. He threw quickly to third base and Sawyer tagged Nutzhorn, who was caught off base, to end the game.
 
It was a heads-up play by Hogue, but Mitchell added a little levity to the situation after the game. When asked about the play the rookie catcher smiled, winked and said: "we planned it that way". 
 
Ariel Perez got the win, his first of the season, as he moves to 1 and 0. He replaced Tufts and pitched the fifth and sixth. Richard Pharr and Jimmy Munnil did their usual job of retiring the side in the seventh and eighth to set up the ninth for Hogue.
 
Blake, hitting lead off, was 3 for 3 with a home run, an RBI, a sacrifice and three runs scored. First baseman Brendan Miller was 3 for 5 with an RBI. Lowden was 2 for 5 and scored a pair of runs.
 
In clinching second place the Bulls move to 22 and 19. They close out a four game home stand Saturday night against Moose Jaw with game time 7:05.