It was a long and chilly night at Ross Wells Park on Thursday.

The Moose Jaw Regals hit the field for a doubleheader against the Regina Pirates and came out on the losing end in both contests, falling 11-6 in the first game and 17-14 in the second game.

Head coach Kevin Smith said that they need to clean up their play on the defensive side of the ball following the two losses.

“The hitting started to come, especially in that second game, but we’ve got to work on our defence,” said Smith. “It’s early in the year, it wasn’t the nicest weather, but that’s no excuse, we’ve got to get better at that.”

The Regals sit at 1-4 on the year. They return to the field on June 8 when they travel to Regina to face the Reds.

Pirates 11 Regals 6

The first game of the doubleheader saw the Regals and Pirates go back-and-forth early with Moose Jaw trailing 2-1 after one inning.

The Pirates took control in the third when they put a three-spot up on the Regals to go in front 5-1.

After the Pirates extended that lead to 8-2 in the top of the fifth, the Regals came alive with four runs powered by three straight singles to start the frame, but that was as close as they go with Regina scoring two more in the sixth and one in the seventh.

Kaleb Wilson got the start and allowed five runs on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks over three innings of work. His brother Kyle Wilson came on and pitched 2.2 innings, giving up five runs on five hits with five walks and just one strikeout.

Kagan Meier finished the game, allowing one run on two hits in 1.1 innings of work. He had one strikeout and no walks.

At the plate, Jordan Logan was 3-for-4 from the lead off spot, scoring two runs and stealing one base. Matt Evans, Carson Jams and Chris Cooper drove in one run each.

Moose Jaw made four errors in the loss.

Pirates 17 Regals 14

The second game of the double-bill looked like it was going to be over pretty quick with the Pirates taking a 13-3 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

Moose Jaw needed to score some runs to avoid falling via the mercy rule and they did more than just score some runs, as the Regals scored 11 in the frame to take a 14-13 lead after five.

Smith said they showed a lot of character in that inning.

“We were in the position to be cut off and we come back and went ahead with an 11-run inning, you don’t see that every often, so that’s good on our guys to show that character,” he said.

The 11-run rally started with a lead-off double by Logan and Wyatt Riendeau brought around three runs on a triple before Travis Peterson scored Riendeau with a single to put four runs on the board before there was an out.

The next seven runs came with two outs. Kyle Wilson had an RBI-single, Logan smoked his second double of the inning to cash in another run, Evans brought in another run with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Riendeau recorded his fourth RBI of the inning thanks to a walk.

With all the momentum on the Regals’ side, the Pirates answered back with four runs in the sixth and went on to win by three.

Logan went 3-for-3 with two walks, a stolen base, three runs scored and one RBI to lead the offence again. Riendeau was 2-for-3 with two walks and four RBI, while Evans was 2-for-3 with a walk, hit-by-pitch, two RBI and a strikeout.

Chris Cooper pitched four innings, allowing 12 runs on 13 hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Carson James pitched next 1.2 innings, surrendering three runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out two.

Riendeau finished the game on the mound, throwing 1.1 no-hit innings with one strikeout.