The Moose Jaw Canucks continue to prove that they can hang with any team in the province.

The Canucks spent the long weekend in Saskatoon for the annual Baseball Saskatchewan Midget AA Selects Tournament and walked away with the title after beating the Midwest Diamondbacks, 14-11, in the final on Sunday.

“While they’re tired, I think they’re very happy with the result,” said Head Coach John Eberl. “We played very well in the final, got off to a big lead and hung on for the victory.”

Moose Jaw posted a 3-1 record overall at the tournament, falling to Midwest 7-4 on Saturday afternoon for their only loss of the season so far, but they were able to avenge that loss in a big way in the final.

The tournament opened with the Canucks knocking off the Saskatoon Blue Jays, 11-5, on Saturday morning. They booked their ticket to the final with a dominating 23-3 over the Saskatoon A’s Hustlers on Sunday morning.

Heading into the final, the Canucks bats stayed hot, which was big as the team headed into the tournament shorthanded in the pitching department.

“We went in there with 11 players, down a couple of veterans and two guys that can throw on the hill for us as well, so the rest of the crew had to pick it and we tried to manage it the best we could with the pitch counts,” said Eberl.

“We’ve played the game all season on team speed and that’s what we did again in the final, we really got some timely hitting, some of the veterans and rookies, both, really kind of broke out, you get four games in a row and you get in a groove hitting.”

In the loss to Midwest, the Canucks ran into a tough left-handed pitcher that led to ten strikeouts in the game and really limited their offence, but Eberl said they stayed with their attack and found some momentum late in that game, which helped them in the final.

“When we met them again in the final, the guys really wanted to prove something and they really swung the bats well,” said Eberl.

“The guys were pretty beat up because of the style of play that we play, everyone is running and working hard out there, so when it came to that fourth game, we were definitely tired, but the guys stepped up.”

In the final, the Canucks gave up the opening run to Midwest in the bottom of the first, but responded by posting a six-spot in the top of the second to take control of the game at 6-3 after two.

They continued to roll at the plate after that, adding on one more run in the third, three in the fourth and then fourth in the fifth.

The Diamondbacks started to mount a comeback in the fifth with six runs and then added two more in the bottom of the seventh, but they couldn’t get any closer.

Dawson Kurz picked up the win on the mound in the final, throwing allowing six runs, just two earned, on four hits over 4.2 innings of work. He struck out five and walked three.

Ryan Botterill finished off the game, giving up five runs, only two earned, over 2.1 innings with two strikeouts and two walks. Botterill was also 2-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored, one RBI and two stolen bases.

The Canucks stole ten bases in the final. Raine Eberl stole three bases and scored three runs, while Ryan Zerff drove in a pair of runs.

Following the weekend, the Canucks were back on the field for league play on Monday, battling the Regina Blue Jays to a 5-5 tie to put their record at 7-0-1 in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League.

Eberl said this weekend saw them put in place some good building blocks for the rest of the season.

“The guys are buying into the way that we want to play the game,” he said. “We want to run hard and work hard every game, take each at-bat for the full at-bat, don’t worry about a strike here or there, or a missed play in the outfield and infield, just put it behind you and carry on.”

The Canucks return to action this Sunday when they head to North Battleford for a doubleheader against the Beavers.