Border Cats crushed by visiting Huskies' 17-hit attack

The Duluth Huskies know how to hit.

The hottest hitting team in the Northwoods Leauge, the Huskies bats were on full display on Wednesday afternoon, rapping out 17 hits in a 17-7 drubbing of the all-too-forgiving Thunder Bay Border Cats and their depleted pitching staff.

And it was a familiar face doing much of the damage.

Former Border Cats third baseman Kyle Comer, who left after 11 games in his second summer in Thunder Bay, collected three hits in six trips to the plate, scored twice and drove in three to lead the offensive charge.

Comer played 18 games for the Cats in 2014.

“It’s great to be back,” he said.

“I think we had 17 hits as a team, so there were a lot of people getting the job done, putting the ball in play and getting the hits when we needed to score 17 runs on 17 hits. That’s awesome.”

Thunder Bay starter Kyle Von Ruden was sailing along through three innings and retired the first 11 batters he faced.
It was the 12th that proved to be his undoing.

The Huskies scored four runs with two outs in the fourth, Comer doubling home a pair and the Huskies were on their way.
They’d score at least one run in every successive at bat, including five in the sixth and three more in the seventh. Von Ruden left after five, surrendering eight runs on eight hits, offering up three of the eight free passes the Cats issued on the afternoon, the first-half of a day-night doubleheader at Tbaytel Park at Port Arthur Stadium.

Nick Valaika provided the power in the sixth, cracking his team-leading fifth homerun of the campaign.

Duluth starter Toby Anderson gave way to reliever Hunter Kyzar to start the sixth, having allowed just one run on four hits.
That’s when the Border Cats bats finally came to life.

Nate Nolan smacked his team-best sixth round-tripper, and an inning later Mikael Mogues took Kyzer deep, a three-run shot, the first homer by the burly first-baseman this season.

Kyzer was mostly ineffective in his three-inning outing, leaving after six runs crossed the plate.

The Huskies (15-10) added two more in the eighth on infield ground outs, securing the win and ensuring they kept pace with first-place St. Cloud (19-7), who scored once in the eighth to edge Mankato 6-5 in the first of two the teams are playing on Wednesday.

Joe Gellenbeck continued his torrid streak for Thunder Bay, going 3-for-3 with a double, a run, an RBI and a pair of walks. He was coming off a 4-for-5, two-walk performance in Tuesday’s 16-inning win over St. Cloud.

Von Ruden took the loss and fell to 2-4, while Anderson earned the win and improved to 4-3.

First pitch in the nightcap is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Zach Thiac will be on the mound for the Border Cats.