An elusive final out in the 3rd inning brought an end to the Swift Current 57's undefeated start to the 2017 WMBL season.

With the bases empty and two-out the Lethbridge Bulls had five straight batters reach base safely, capped off by a Brock Frentzel bases-clearing double.

The three-RBI hit gave Lethbridge a 4-0 lead and all the run support they would need, going on to beat Swift Current 4-2 at Mitchell Field.

"They just had the one big inning which I didn't minimize," said 57's Starting Pitcher Bobby St. Pierre. "It should have only been one run or two, not three or four and that's on me. I think it was just a little bit of working to quick, and letting it get to me a little bit. I wasn't mentally out of it, but I feel like I left a pitch or two up for them to hit."

Initially, St. Pierre looked like he was going to get out of the 3rd inning rather quickly.

The Windsor, Ontario native got his second double-play of the game to erase a lead-off single before running into trouble.

With the Lethbridge line-up turning over, the Bulls hit back-to-back singles, followed by a Carter Witbeck RBI double to open the scoring.

Unfortunately for Swift Current they had a chance to end the inning on the double.

After fielding the ball, 57's Right Fielder Nick Canas fired it into second base and looked like he had thrown out Witbeck, but the ball was bobbled and got away.

St. Pierre then hit the next batter before Frentzel cleared the bases.

"You have to give Lethbridge credit," Swift Current Head Coach Joe Canrnahan said. "They came in right away, ready to play, had the big inning early on, and we couldn't claw our way back."

From that point on, St. Pierre settled into a groove to keep the Bulls at four runs.

The 57's starter promptly retired the next eleven batters and ultimately went 7 innings.

"That's the thing with Bob, he competes and he'll keep coming after you no matter what," said Carnahan. "He had a lot of poise out there. He gave us seven strong innings and did a great job for us."

Despite the one rough inning, it was not the sole reason for Swift Current suffering their first loss of the season.

Having put up 26 runs in their previous two games, the 57's were unable to get much going with runners on base Wednesday night.

Swift Current finished the game 2 for 21 with runners on-base, 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, and 0 for 2 with a runner on third base and less than two out, all while having at least one batter reach safely each inning.

"That's the thing, just getting that timely hit," Carnahan said. "We had a lot of situations with guys on base. A couple times we had a guy on third base and less than two out where we didn't need a hit to push a run across and we weren't able to cash in, and (Lethbridge) had the big hit that did."

57's Third Baseman Riley Campbell had one of Swift Current's two hits with runners on-base.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Campbell drove a RBI triple with one out to trim the Lethbridge lead to 4-1.

"We hit a lot of balls hard at people, a lot of line drives," Campbell said. "We just have to stick to that plan and we'll be fine."

The University of Toledo sophomore reached base safely three times in the contest

"All we can do is get back at it on Thursday," said Campbell. "We were down a little bit but we can fix that. It's pretty simple. We have 25 guys here that want to play baseball and knowing them, we will just get back at it."

Swift Current tried to mount a late rally in the bottom of the 9th.

Keil Krumwiede led off the inning with a solo home-run, his first of the season.

Matt Bondarchuk went on to rip a one-out single to bring the tying run to the plate, however, a flyout to centre and a 6-4 fielder’s choice sealed the 57’s fate.

"We know we can put up runs quick and we're never out of a game knowing that all nine guys in our line-up can hit," Campbell said when asked about the team’s comeback attempt. " Our pitching did great and kept us in the ball game. They're the reason we had a chance. They kept putting up zero after zero."

With the loss, Swift Current's record fell to 4-1 on the season.

They still sit in first place in the WMBL's East Division, half a game ahead of both Weyburn and Regina.

The 57's will now switch their focus to Thursday night when they play host the Moose Jaw Miller Express.

"It's gonna happen throughout the year," St. Pierre said. "It's pretty hard not to lose at times. It's baseball, stuff happens. We've got another day and another game coming up. Just wake up, do it all again and get after it."