THUNDER BAY -- The Bad News Border Cats were at it again.
After taking a 5-4 lead in the seventh on Thursday night to the delight of the Tbaytel Park crowd, the slumping Cats gave six back in the eighth, the Eau Claire Express going on to an 11-7 win.
It was the sixth straight defeat for the Border Cats (1-21), who are now 0-12 at home this season.
Both the players and manager Danny Benedetti are trying to stay focuses on the positive, though it’s hard to block out the reality of the disaster the 2016 campaign has become for the former two-time Northwoods League champion franchise.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Benedetti, the second-year manager whose team must find five wins in its final 13 first-half games to avoid setting a new league futility mark for a half.
For about 10 minutes, it looked like the Border Cats might finally snap the home-park slide and get that elusive first win.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
Eau Claire’s first two batters reached on Seth Gill to start the eighth and Cody Bohanek stepped in, squaring up to bunt.
He did, but Gill fielded it and threw high and wide, allowing Rudy Rott to score from second.
Enter Vinny Santarsiero and cue the hit parade.
Ripken Reyes singled to score two more and scored on a Kyle Marinconz ground-out. Daulton Varsho, son of former major leaguer Gary Varsho, then slammed a ball into the dog park beyond the right-field fence for a 9-5 Express lead.
Austin Guzzo followed with a double and scored on an Austin Mang single.
“It’s the standard, big inning we gave up again. Of course it’s a killer late in the game, but I’m still going to go to that kid (Santarsiero) any time of the year,” Benedetti said.
Thunder Bay added a pair in the eighth to close the gap to three, Joe Gellenbeck delivering and RBI single that plated two with the help of an overthrow from Mang in right.
It could have been worse.
Varsho appeared to triple in two more runs and scored himself on a throwing error to third, but all three runs were wiped out when it was ruled Zach Ashford missed third, pitcher Brendan Langan tipping Benedetti off to appeal.
If there was one positive he could point to, it was the arrival of left-fielder Anthony Brocato, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI in his Border Cats debut.
“It was a nice debut, but at the end of the day we still lost 11-7. So that’s all that really matters. I’m trying to make an impact, so hopefully it’ll come around in the second half of the season,” said the Helmetta, N.J. native.
Gunnar Kay started for the Cats, giving up four runs on six hits. Gill, tagged for three runs on three hits and three walks, took the loss to fall to 0-2.
Michael Gomez lasted four innings on the mound for Eau Claire, the win going to Dylan Smith (1-0), who took over with two outs in the seventh.
The two teams tangle again on Friday. Attendance was 682.
