James Jackson/MDN Inclement weather brings a premature end to Friday night’s game at Corbett Field, resulting in an 11-2 victory for Souris Valley.

Revisiting the rivalry that opened the 2022 Expedition League season for the Sabre Dogs, Souris Valley looked to extend their current winning streak to seven games as they prepared for a four-game home-stand against the Red River Pilots on Friday night at Corbett Field.

Currently sitting atop the standings with eleven wins and only one loss on the year, the Sabre Dogs have dazzled thus far with a cache of relentless offensive firepower and an equally impressive presence on the defensive and pitching sides of the diamond.

As a team, Souris Valley currently holds a scorching .379 batting average, amassing 153 hits on 404 total at-bats. Of those 153 hits, 57 account for extra-base hits, with 18 coming in the form of home runs.

Nevertheless, arguably the most irrefutable evidence of the Sabre Dogs’ scoring potency is their 133 total runs scored over the course of the twelve games played this season. Breaking it down to a per-game statistic, Souris Valley has averaged just a little over eleven runs scored in every outing.

Not to be overshadowed by the Sabre Dogs’ white-hot bats is their pitching staff’s dominance on the mound.

Of the 375 batters faced by the Sabre Dogs pitchers, they have a combined ERA of 1.29 and 134 strikeouts, while only allowing 60 hits and 20 runs total. Throughout twelve games, that is an average of 5 hits and 1.7 runs per outing.

With a record of 3-6-1, the Red River Pilots entered Friday night’s contest looking to shoot down the Sabre Dogs’ momentum, yet Souris Valley would welcome the dogfight and come out guns blazing.

Wasting no time, the Sabre Dogs attacked quickly and with precision. First baseman Chris Monroe drove in the first run of the game on a hard grounder to left field to put Souris Valley up 1-0, followed by a sacrifice fly to center field by second baseman Jake Barlow to grow the lead to 2-0 before eventually ending the inning.

Refusing to back down, the Pilots would shrink the Sabre Dogs lead to one in the top of the third on a sacrifice fly to put Red River on the board. However, for the Pilots, this would be the closest they would come to challenging Souris Valley before the Sabre Dogs onslaught would ensue.

Between the fourth and seventh innings, the Sabre Dogs peppered the Pilots with nine more runs while suppressing Red River to only one additional score to inflate the lead to 11-2.

Inserting her presence into the match-up, Mother Nature decided that the game had went on long enough and proceeded to drop a torrential downpour of rain and hurl down enough lightning in the area surrounding Corbett Field for the umpires to bring the game to a stop. As a result, the Sabre Dogs extended their winning streak to seven games and their overall record to 12-1 in an 11-2 victory over Red River.

Souris Valley catcher Seth Delgado shined in the batter’s box, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs, two runs scored, and a home run.

On the mound, Sabre Dogs’ pitcher Jordan Ewig went the distance to earn the win in a seven-inning performance, allowing five hits and two runs while racking up four strikeouts.

The Sabre Dogs will return to action today at 6:35 p.m. at Corbett Field in another showdown with Red River.