The game had no meaning in the standings, but both teams showed what they’re capable of heading into the first round of the Western Major Baseball League playoffs.

The Moose Jaw Miller Express lost 14-9 to the Swift Current 57s on Sunday in the regular season finale at Ross Wells Park.

Moose Jaw finishes with a 23-25 record as they return to the playoffs for the first time in two seasons, while Swift Current captured the Eastern Division title with a 33-15 mark.

With a first round match-up on the horizon, the game served as a preview to that series with nothing left to gain in the regular season for either team. Both sides provided plenty of fireworks offensively while giving a number of pitchers a chance to hit the mound.

“You want to go in the playoffs on a winning note and unfortunately that’s not going to happen,” said head coach Michael Hunt. “We did some funny things today, had some guys throw that hadn’t thrown a whole lot, did some senior send off stuff, so it was a bit of a wacky game, one inning got away from us and that’s the tale of the tape.”

Despite the loss, the Millers have plenty to build off coming out of the game, especially on the defensive side of the ball as they turned a triple play, as well as two double plays in a strong game in the field.

“A triple play doesn’t happen often in this league, so we can definitely build off a lot of things there,” said Hunt.

The triple play came in the top of the third inning as Swift Current loaded the bases for the third straight inning, but Moose Jaw was able to limit the damage to just two runs. Nick Canos hit a grounder to second and the Millers quickly swung the ball around the infield from second-to-first-to-home for the rare play.

“That’s my first triple play that I’ve ever been a part of, so that was pretty cool,” said outfielder Pate Katechis. “Our defence has been rock solid for the past month or so and we know that will keep us in the game.”

Katechis hit his fourth home run of the season with a big three-run shot to centre field to get Moose Jaw on the board in the second.

The Millers had built up an 8-4 lead after four innings, but the 57s pulled within one with three runs in the sixth and then they jumped in front in a big way with a seven-run seventh inning to take the win.

“A lot of the things that ended up being the reason why we lost were things that we can control and things that were easily fixable, and as long as we know what we need to fix, it’s easy from there,” said Katechis, who finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored.

First baseman Ben Dalke had a big game as his bat starts to heat up again, he finished 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored.

Both teams collected 14 hits in the game.

On the mound, Jesse Marks got the start for Moose Jaw, allowed four runs – three earned – on five hits over 2+ innings. He walked four.

D.J. Martinez came on after Marks and had a stretch of five straight strikeouts before allowing three runs on three hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out five overall.

Joshmar Doran took the loss, giving up seven runs on six hits and one walk in a 1/3 of an inning. After that Travis Edgar, Lane Harvey and Mitchell Robinson pitched the final 2 2/3 innings without giving up a hit and walking two.

Swift Current starter Will Blanchard gave up eight runs – six earned – on 10 hits and one walk over 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three.

Trey Taylor earned the win with 2 2/3 shutout innings. He gave up two hits and struck out two.

Heading into their first round series, which gets underway on Tuesday, the Millers are confident that they can knock off the divisions top team after finding success against them in the regular season, going 4-4.

“We know that we can beat Swift Current, so it gives us a good feeling that we can take some games off them,” said Katechis.

The best-of-five series opens on Tuesday with Game 1 at Mitchell Field in Swift Current. Game 2 will be on Wednesday before the series shifts to Ross Wells for Game 3 on Thursday.

If necessary, Game 4 will be on Friday in Moose Jaw and then Game 5 would be on Saturday back in Swift Current.