Ryan Ladika/MDN Steven Moretto, pictured from Souris Valley's July 8 contest, earned one of the Dogs' three hits through the first four innings Friday night’s road game.

The end of the Souris Valley Sabre Dogs’ marathon 15-game road trip is in sight, as the team began its final road series of the trip Friday evening against the Spearfish Sasquatch, but the Dogs could not slow the potent Spearfish offense in an 11-4 defeat at Black Hills Energy Stadium.

The series marks the second and final time two of the Expedition League’s most prolific offenses will square off during the regular season, and the first meeting between the squads since the Sabre Dogs’ (39-18, 17-9) second homestand of the season June 4-6. Souris Valley took the first series two games to one and outscored its Clark Division rivals 26-14.

Right-hander Kainin Morrow took the hill for the Sabre Dogs, fighting through somewhat of a tough season overall but coming off a spectacular outing in his last start. July 24 against the Sioux Falls Sunfish, he produced his most impressive outing of the year, tossing seven innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts. He yielded the sole unearned tally on just four hits and three walks throughout the evening.

His Friday task was a tall one, taming the explosive Sasquatch (39-17, 18-8) offense that ranks in the top two in the league in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging).

Morrow’s quest started well, albeit shaky. Spearfish squandered a bases-loaded chance in the first and drew a walk and a single in the second, but Morrow tightroped his way out of both jams to keep the game scoreless.

The dam broke in the bottom of the third, as a pair of one-out walks issued by the Souris Valley right-hander came back to haunt him when Jacob Sanchez whacked a two-out, two-run double to put Souris Valley in a 2-0 hole. Theo Hardy produced a two-run triple following a Justin Cooper error, and he came around on a wild pitch to extend the Spearfish lead to 5-0.

The Souris Valley offense found little success against the Sasquatch pitching staff, meanwhile, mustering just five hits through the first five innings. The Dogs put two runners on in an inning on four separate occasions, but could not cash in on any of their scoring opportunities.

Drew Miller finally came to the Dogs’ offensive rescue in the top of the sixth inning, cranking a two-run home run after Taylor Justus singled, getting Souris Valley on the scoreboard. The long ball, his sixth of the season and one behind Ethan Moore and Steven Moretto for the team lead, broke a nine-game homer drought for the Pryor, Oklahoma native.

The long ball cut into Spearfish’s then 7-0 lead and the dogs tacked on two more on an Ethan Moore two-run single in the seventh, but Souris Valley could not mount the comeback and would eventually fall by an 11-4 final score. The Sabre Dogs will look to even the series Saturday night at 6:35 p.m.