The Moose Jaw Regals lost their regular season finale on Wednesday night, dropping a 9-4 game to the Regina Reds at Ross Wells Park.

While any loss stings, the Regals were using the game as more of a warmup for the action this weekend as the local squad travels to Regina for the 2018 Baseball Saskatchewan Junior AAA Provincial Championship.

Outfielder Travis Peterson said that the Regals feel like they’ve building towards this weekend.

"These last two weeks, we've been putting the ball in play, our bats are coming alive and defensively, we've haven't made any errors, so it should be a good weekend," said Peterson after Wednesday's game.

The provincial tournament will see the Regals play three round robin games on Friday and Saturday before the top four teams advance into the semifinals on Sunday.

Peterson said in a short tournament like this, they will need to be sharp.

"No errors is the biggest key," said Peterson. "If they put the ball in play, we've got to make plays and we've got to get our base hits when we've got guys in scoring position."

The Regals will open provincials on Friday night with a showdown against the Regina Pirates, who Moose Jaw went 2-1 against during the Regina Optimist Junior Baseball League season.

Peterson said the Regals are heading into the game confident.

"We've been getting timely hitting, we've been getting hits with guys in scoring position and defensively, we haven't been kicking the ball around much, so we're playing good," he said.

The Regals and Pirates hit the field at 6 p.m. at Optimist Park in Regina. 

On Saturday, Moose Jaw takes on the Saskatoon Hoppers at 1 p.m. at Currie Field on and then they finish the round robin against the Regina Cobras at 8 p.m. at Optimist Park.

Click here for the full provincial schedule.

Reds 9 Regals 4

A rough fifth inning cost the Regals on Wednesday in their 9-4 loss to the Regina Reds at Ross Wells Park.

Regina led 3-1 leading into the fifth inning, but the Reds were able to put bat to ball throughout the fifth to score four runs.

Moose Jaw answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning with Peterson and Wyatt Riendeau both cashing in runs for the Regals, but the deficit was too much to overcome.

Moose Jaw added one more run in the seventh on an RBI-groundout from Kyle Wilson that cashed in Weston Mergel following his triple to start off the frame.

Kurtis MacDonald started on the mound for the Regals, allowing one run on four hits with two strikeouts and no walks over two innings.

Kyle Wilson surrendered two runs on one hit and three walks over a 1 1/3 innings, while Kaleb Wilson followed his brother and was tagged for three runs on two hits and walk in an inning.

Mergel finished the game on the mound and allowed one run on two hits and a walk over 1 2/3 innings. He struck out one.