Robert Brewer/MDN Souris Valley's starting catcher Cullen Hannigan squares to bunt in an at-bat during Thursday's home game at Corbett Field.

The Souris Valley Sabre Dogs (23-9) looked to close out their three-game series against the Pierre Trappers with a sweep on Thursday evening at Corbett Field. Heading into play, the Dogs notched an 11-6 victory over Pierre on Tuesday, and a 20-7 triumph over the visitors from South Dakota on Wednesday.

As it turned out, Thursday’s matchup was a low scoring affair by comparison. Pierre posted two runs in the second inning and one more in the fourth to jump out to a 3-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Souris Valley first baseman Beau Brewer led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second thanks to a one out single by Cullen Hannigan. Brewer then stole third base and came around to score on a sacrifice fly courtesy of Dalton Bowling.

Through six full innings, the Dogs trailed 3-1 on the scoreboard and Hannigan’s fourth inning single stood as the club’s only hit to that point. Souris Valley starting pitcher Dominick Parkhurst completed his evening by surrendering three earned runs on eight hits through five innings. Meanwhile, Sabre Dogs reliever Shaun Hickey worked out of a one out, bases loaded jam unscathed as the score remained 3-1 in favor of Pierre at the seventh inning stretch.

Souris Valley left two runners stranded in the home half of the seventh and was unable to score any runs in the frame. The Sabre Dogs trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth. In that frame, Souris Valley clean-up hitter Justin Cooper worked a two-out walk and came around to score an unearned run which trimmed the deficit to 4-2. Then in the bottom of the ninth with one on and one out, it was Drew Miller who notched a two-run homer to tie the game. The Dogs did not score again in the inning, and it was onto extra baseball.

The Sabre Dogs surrendered a run to Pierre in the top of the 10th, and once again faced a do-or-die situation in the bottom of the inning. Three of Souris Valley’s first four hitters in the frame reached base via the walk. With the bases loaded and only one out, Pierre pitcher Joseph Bramanti was called for a balk which allowed Brewer to score from third and the two other base runners to advance as well. At that point, the game was tied at 5-5 and the Dogs had their winning run on third base when Gunnar Magrann hit a walk-off double on a 2-2 count to close out the victory and earn a series sweep of the Trappers.

On the mound, Daniel Charron got the win in relief as he went three innings for the Dogs and allowed two earned on three hits with three strikeouts. Meanwhile, Brewer’s season long hit streak was snapped at 31 games. His consecutive game hit streak represents a new Expedition League record.

Up next for the Dogs, they plan to continue their home stand on Friday by welcoming the Fremont Moo to Minot. Start time for that contest is slated for 7:05 p.m.