Ryan Ladika/MDN Steven Moretto (right) celebrates with Declan Buckle (left) after Moretto scored Souris Valley's third run of the evening in the bottom of the third inning.

On the heels of their blowout victory in the series opener Tuesday evening, the Souris Valley Sabre Dogs clinched the series win Wednesday evening with a comfortable 10-3 victory over the Casper Horseheads in a shortened seven-inning contest at Corbett Field.

Both clubs agreed before first pitch was thrown that, with no postseason positioning on the line, the contest would be shortened in the interest of preserving the teams’ respective pitching staffs after the lengthy 23-2 Souris Valley (43-18, 21-9) win Tuesday evening.

Right-hander Dominick Parkhurst was tasked with the starting assignment Wednesday night, marking his ninth start and 10th appearance of the season for the Tucson, Arizona native. Parkhurst toed the rubber riding his best stretch of the season, having tossed a combined 14.2 innings in his last two starts with five runs allowed (three earned) and six strikeouts.

The 6’1″ righty was not sharp early on, but would later settle in following a shaky top of the first inning that saw seven Horseheads take their hacks and three Casper (17-43, 9-21) runs safely cross home plate on the strength of three hits, one walk and a pair of Souris Valley errors.

The Dogs immediately begun chipping away at their early deficit, as Allen Grier and Steven Moretto reached on a one-out walk and single, respectively. Grier, who advanced to second base on Moretto’s knock, scampered to third base on a Casper passed ball and would later score on an RBI single by Jordan Williams.

Williams’ hit gave him his 32nd RBI of the season and extended his active hit streak to eight straight games dating back to July 25. Moretto would later come around on a Horseheads error, trimming Casper’s advantage to 3-2.

Parkhurst would find his groove in the top of the second inning, working around a leadoff single by Kyler Halverson with a couple of groundouts and a pop out to first baseman Declan Buckle. Souris Valley’s offense, meanwhile, continued hacking away at Horseheads starter Rolando De La Cruz.

Moretto led off the bottom of the third inning with a double, his 12th of the season, and would tie the game on a timely infield single by Gunnar Magrann. Moretto was again at the heart of Souris Valley’s offense in the fourth, lining an RBI single of his own to score Justin Cooper with one out to give the Dogs a 4-3 lead, their first advantage of the evening.

Parkhurst’s third inning was his last of the night, inducing a 4-6-3 double play to help escape a two-on, none-out jam, and Craig Schmich was called upon by head coach Alex Miklos in relief.

The new righty, in just his second appearance with Souris Valley and first at home, dazzled in front of his home fans. He struck out the side after a leadoff walk in the fourth, punched out two more in the fifth and whiffed three in a scoreless sixth to hold Casper to three runs.

The Dogs, meanwhile, cracked the game wide open in the late innings, scoring five runs in the fifth and sixth frames. Magrann added his second run-scoring hit of the night, a double, Buckle drove Hannigan home on a groundout, and Reece Anderson forced in Magrann with an RBI single in a three-run fifth.

Moretto piled onto his offensive heroics in leading off the sixth, cranking his eighth home run of the season to give him the team-lead in the category. The long ball also marked his fourth hit of the evening, giving the infielder just his second four-hit game of the year and first since July 12.

Taylor Justus followed with a double, and Williams crushed a first-pitch two run home run, the Dogs’ second of the inning and the outfielder’s second in as many nights as well as his fifth of the campaign, to put the Dogs in double digits.

Jared Breedwell, the Dogs’ second reliever of the evening, spun a scoreless seventh inning to seal Souris Valley’s 10-3 victory. The Sabre Dogs will go for the sweep of Casper Thursday evening at 7:05 p.m. in the regular season home finale.