The Moose Jaw Miller Express will have a new head coach for the 2019 season in the newly-minted Western Canadian Baseball League.

Michael Hunt resigned as head coach last month after a decade on the bench for the Millers and Tanner Spencer, who has served as the team's pitching coach for the past two seasons, will take over the head role.

Michael Hunt coaching the Moose Jaw Miller Express during the 2018 season. (Photo: Marc Smith)

"In the last ten years the league and the organization has grown a fair amount and it's getting to be a bigger and bigger job every year, and Michael was originally hired for a one-year gig and he hung in there for ten, so we're pleased with the way things have gone," said Millers general manager Cory Olafson.

Over his ten seasons with the Millers, Hunt led the team into the playoffs in eight, finishing with a 202-251 overall record. 

Hunt also moved to Moose Jaw and started a family in the city.

Spencer will now take over as head coach after two years working on the Millers' coaching staff with Hunt.

Spencer is from Craik, Sask. and played midget baseball in Moose Jaw and for the Millers from 2014-16, during which time he attended Colby Community College and University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Tanner Spencer, right, in the Moose Jaw Miller Express' dugout during the 2018 season. (Photo: Marc Smith)

"He's a huge addition, if I had a list of ten guys, I’m sure Tanner would be at the top of the list every time," said Olafson. "Tanner is very knowledgeable when it comes to baseball, he's got the benefit of being both a player and a coach in the league and with our organization, that's huge because he knows how the league works from both sides, and the guys really relate to Tanner really well, so we're super excited to have Tanner take over."

Spencer is currently the pitching coach at Minot Stated University after putting together a record-setting season with the University of Nebraska-Kearney in 2018.

The UNK pitching staff reduced their earned run average by nearly two runs from the previous season and finished with 403 strikeouts, shattering the school record for strikeouts in a season.

Olafson said that having Spencer coaching and involved in recruiting in NCAA will help the Millers identify players to come to Moose Jaw for the summer.

"It will help out immensely, when Michael came up, he came directly from coaching at Colby and Tanner being down there in the trenches, he's seeing the kids play and he's talking to the coaches continuously," said Olafson. "Having Tanner seeing these kids and talking to them, getting to know them, is very big."

The Millers posted a 23-25 record during the 2018 Western Major Baseball League season. The team’s pitching staff had the third-most strikeouts in the league with 417, while the team’s WHIP was seventh at 1.59.