Skip to content

Mogues, Dutto homer, Border Cats crush Express on road

Mikael Mogues has finally found his power stroke.

Mikael Mogues has finally found his power stroke.

The burly first baseman with the Mo Vaughn frame crushed his second home run of the season – and second this week – an eighth-inning grand slam nonetheless, to power the visiting Thunder Bay Border Cats (12-18) past the Eau Claire Express 14-5 on Saturday night.

Max Dutto also homered for Thunder Bay, a two-run shot that began the Border Cats comeback after the Express (14-16) jumped out to a 5-1 lead with a four-run fourth that chased starter Ryan Johnson.

Jared James added two more hits in five at bats and now leads Lacrosse’s Mason McCoy .365 to .355 in the Northwoods League batting race.

Eight of nine Thunder Bay starters collected at least one hit on the night, including Joe Gellebeck, who was 3-for-5 and snapped a two-game hitless streak after going 12-for-23 in the five games prior to that. He’s now hitting .283 on the season. He was hitting .258 when his hot-hitting ways began.

Four of the five Express runs came via the long ball.

Austin Listi and Daniel Jipping went deep on Ryan in the fourth, while an inning earlier Kyle Marinconz connected on a two-out solo shot that tied the game 1-1.

Eau Claire starter Ryan Schlosser took the loss, leaving in the fifth after giving up five runs, four of them earned, on seven hits and a walk. He also struck out five.

Jimmy Murphy took the relief win for the Cats, taking over from Johnson with one out in the fourth. He pitched through the seventh, surrendering five hits and a run. Donnie Sellers tossed the final two innings, walking four.

The win helped the Cats escape the North Division basement, vaulting over the Waterloo Bucks (12-18), losers of eight straight.
The two teams will tangle again on Sunday at Carson Park.

It was the third game of Thunder Bay’s eight-game road trip. The Cats return home to close out the Northwoods League season with a pair against Duluth on Saturday and Sunday.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
Read more



push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks