The Estevan Sherritt Coal Haulers were a tiebreaker away from going to the final at the bantam portion of the Eugene Emberley Memorial Tournament on the weekend in Weyburn.
The club posted a 2-1 record in round-robin play, tying them with Weyburn and Pilot Butte, but the other two clubs played in the final due to allowing fewer runs.
Estevan whipped the Saskatoon A's 16-2 in the third-place game.
They lost 8-3 to Weyburn, defeated Saskatoon 12-0 and beat Pilot Butte 9-7 in round-robin action.
Weyburn won the tournament with a lopsided win over Pilot Butte in the final.
"We needed to beat them by seven runs to make the final. We knew what we had to do in that game and we didn't quite get there," said Haulers manager Lindsay Clark.
Clark said he was satisfied with the Haulers' play on the weekend, but he would have preferred to play Weyburn in their last game instead of facing a weak Saskatoon squad twice.
"We would have much preferred to play Weyburn. We want to play the better teams," he said.
"But it gave us some confidence to make contact with the ball. We hit the ball well."
Clark said the Haulers got eight different pitchers to the mound during the weekend, adding that most of their runs allowed were manufactured rather than scored with power.
A fun night for Estevan Minor Baseball players will be held on June 17 in order to make up for all the games lost to rain this season. The event is being organized by Tom Copeland.
