The offence was in high gear for the Moose Jaw Canucks in their opening game at the 2018 Baseball Saskatchewan Midget AA Tier 2 Provincial Championship.

The Canucks won 12-8 over the Regina Pacers at Ross Wells Park on Friday to open up the provincial tournament, which will be hosted here in Moose Jaw and Regina.

"It was really good, getting the win today will really help us out tomorrow, it gets us closer to going to the final, so it's big," said Ryan Zerff with the Canucks.

Zerff went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI out of the lead-off spot for the Canucks, who finished with 14 hits in total in the win.

"Our hitting was really good; defensively, we had a couple of errors here and there, but that happens, it's not a big deal; our pitching was good, everyone did good," said Zerff.

The offence was clicking right out of the gate for the Canucks, when Zerff came around to score on an error by the Pacers.

Regina took the lead in the top of the third, scoring twice, but the Canucks answered right back in the bottom half of the frame when Taylor Hicke scored on a wild pitch and Zerff came around on a groundout by Tysen Jordison.

Moose Jaw put the game out of reach in the fourth inning. It started with Chayce Vanthuyne scoring on a triple from Ryley Gross and ended with the Canucks putting six runs on the board to lead 9-2.

The Canucks made it 11-2 with two more runs in the fifth and padded their lead with another run in the sixth.

Regina pushed back in the seventh inning, scoring four runs -- three earned -- off of pitcher Bryden Pow, but Moose Jaw held on for the important opening win.

Canucks pitcher Ryan Zerff delivers a pitch during Friday's win over the Regina Pacers to open provincials at Ross Wells Park. (Photo: Marc Smith)

Joridson started for the Canucks, allowing two runs -- one earned -- on two hits with one strikeout in three innings.

Zerff pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing two unearned runs on three hits. He struck out two.

Jeremy Kohl punched the final out of the game for the Canucks, striking out the Pacer to end the game.

The Canucks will play two more round robin games at Ross Wells Park coming up on Sunday. Zerff said that's a big positive for the team.

"I love playing here, I think everybody does, it's always nice to host and play on your home field," he said. "It's definitely nice to play on a diamond that we're use to."

Friday's game was against a familiar foe for the Canucks, but their two games on Saturday are against two teams that they have yet to face this season.

"We just need to do everything the same pretty much," said Zerff. "Make sure we hit the ball, we need offence to win the game. Offence and solid defence really."

The Canucks face the Saskatoon Thunder Braves at 9 a.m. and the Prince Albert Royals at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Ross Wells Park.

The tournament will shift over to Regina for the playoff round on Sunday.