Skip to content

Border Cats win wild one on fireworks night

THUNDER BAY -- The Thunder Bay Border Cats magic number must be 29. Four times in team history they’ve been involved in games where both teams combine for more than 30 runs. All four times they lost.
391032_28849757
Border Cats shortstop Andrew Fregia (right) successfully evades the tag of Willmar catcher Kole Cottam during the second inning on Friday night at Tbaytel Park. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- The Thunder Bay Border Cats magic number must be 29.

Four times in team history they’ve been involved in games where both teams combine for more than 30 runs. All four times they lost.

On Friday night they stopped at 29 and hung on to win, edging the visiting Willmar Stingers 15-14 in a game that saw the two sides bang out 37 hits, every player in both starting lineups collecting at least one.

Anthony Brocato singled, doubled and homered onto High Street, driving in four and scoring twice to pace the Border Cats offence, the home run encroaching on Darryl Strawberry territory in the lore of Tbaytel Park.

Strawberry, a drug-troubled former major league all working his way back to the big leagues, hit a legendary 1996 blast that smacked the hotel across the road from the ballpark.

It was a modest Borcato, who has a dozen RBI in just nine games, who described his third home run of 2016.

“Yeah, I got a hold of that one pretty well. But all in all, I wish I could have tacked on a few more in the later innings,” said Brocato, who plays his college ball for St. John’s, where Border Cats manager Danny Benedetti was an assistant coach.

Four innings in, Brocato had three-quarters of cycle under his belt. Benedetti said it’s exactly what he expected bringing the talented slugger to Thunder Bay.

“He’s a special player,” said Benedetti.  “It’s been fun just watching him progress. You see what he did with the wood bat. I think he hit the ball off that hotel in left-field. That’s one of the farthest balls I’ve ever seen hit here.”

Chicks may dig the long ball, but the second-year manager wasn’t above using a little small ball to get the bats heated up on Friday night.

Benedetti called for three straight bunts in the second, starting with No. 7 hitter Joe Gellenbeck, whose suicide squeeze scored  Mitch Bigras from third, the Cats cutting an early Willmar lead in half at 2-1.

Michael Papierski bunted the runners over and Jordan Gillerman followed with a suicide squeeze of his own, Andrew Fregia diving around the tag of Stingers catcher Kole Cottam.

Brocato, now hitting .381, doubled home a pair of runs, Bigras and Fregia following with RBI singles, Thunder Bay taking an 8-2 lead to Chase Willmar starter Corey Binger from the game.

“That second inning was fun to watch,” Benedetti said.

But it wasn’t Border Cats starter Patrick Boyle’s night.

Making his Northwoods League debut, he gave back five runs in the third, Justin Toerner singling home a pair before Boyle turned the ball over to Seth Gill (W, 1-1).

The Cats added three more in the fourth, Gillmeran pushing a two-run single over 2B Luke Becker’s outstretched glove and pushed the lead to 11-7.

Willmar would tie it up in the fifth, then took a 12-11 lead in the sixth, Toerner scoring on Quincy McAfee’s ground-out.

The Cats took the lead for good with a four-run sixth, the runs charged to Willmar right-hander Pearson McMahan (L, 0-2), a 19th-round pick last month by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Andy Weber had the big hit of the inning, a run scoring triple that plated Bobby Honeyman.

The Stingers would tack on two more in the eighth to claw within one, but Vinny Santarsiero got the final four outs, setting Willmar down in order in the ninth to collect his second save of the season.

It was the third win in four outings for the suddenly hot Border Cats (5-24). Willmar fell to 14-17.

Cat tracks: The 14 runs by Willmar were the third most scored in a loss in Northwoods League history … Attendance was 885 … Former Border Cats infielder Carter McEachern has signed with the American Association’s Winnipeg Goldeyes. After an 0-for-3 debut, the Thunder Bay native doubled and drove in a run on Thursday against the Gary Southshore Railcats.



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