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Without manager Benedetti on bench, Cats rally in 9th to win

THUNDER BAY -- With manager Danny Benedetti missing in action, Shane Shepard wasn’t thinking home run when stepped to the plate with one out in the ninth, his Thunder Bay Border Cats trailing the Rochester Honkers 6-5.
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Border Cats shortstop Andy Weber tags out Rochester's Josh Davis during seventh-inning play Thursday night at Tbaytel Park. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY -- With manager Danny Benedetti missing in action, Shane Shepard wasn’t thinking home run when stepped to the plate with one out in the ninth, his Thunder Bay Border Cats trailing the Rochester Honkers 6-5.

He just wanted to get on base and give his team a chance. How he reached didn’t really matter.

But the strapping left-fielder connected on a 1-2 count from Honkers reliever Stevie Ledesma, blasting it 335 feet into the night and over the wall in right to tie the game.

An error and a Mitch Bigras triple to the wall in centre later and the Border Cats, playing in front of 1,172 fans at Tbaytel Park, had completed the comeback, dumping the Honkers 7-6 in their first game back from the three-day all-star break.

“Actually I thought about bunting, because the third baseman was playing so far back,” Shepard said. I was probably locked in the most I’ve been since school ball during that one at bat and he just gave me the right pitch to hit and everything worked out.”

Joe Gellenbeck set the stage for Bigras, reaching on a booted ball by Rochester 1B Ryan Fitzpatrick and raced all the way from first on a ball that soared between a pair of Honkers outfielders and came to rest against the centrefield wall, his teammates mobbing him at the plate.

Like Shepard, he was simply looking to put the ball in play and find some green.

“I was just trying to put one in the outfield. For sure you’ve got to move that guy around with one out and put him in scoring position. Luckily I barreled the ball up and sent it to the outfield and allowed the guy to score,” said Bigras, who was 2-for-4 with a walk on the night.

The Cats (5-8) secured the win without the services of Benedetti, who is away from the team indefinitely for “personal reasons,” said general manager Dan Grant.

Asked if the second-year manager is expected back, Grant was noncommittal.

“We’re still trying to figure that out right now,” he said.

Thunder Bay found trouble almost immediately in this one, starter Brandon Langon unable to survive the first inning after surpassing the league’s 35-pitch maximum.

The Honkers scored three times in the first, Alex Fitchett driving home a pair with a run-scoring single. Gellenbeck pulled the Cats within two in the second with a solo home run, and Bigras stole home in the fourth, the back end of a double steal, to close the deficit to 3-2.

Rochester’s Jackson Thoreson smacked a two-run homer off Angelo Spedafino in the fifth, the Honkers adding another run in the sixth.

Starter Robert Paccione exited after the fifth, having given up two runs on six hits, and that was good news for the Border Cats, who leapt all over replacement Brett Herber.

With two outs and none on, Thunder Bay loaded the bases and catcher Michael Papierski came through in the clutch, his first triple of the season clearing the bases and pulling the Cats once again to within a run.

Vinny Santarsiero (1-1) came on with two outs in the eighth and recorded the win, despite loading the bases with two outs in the ninth.

Claw marks: The Cats have lost all-star shortsop Andrew Fregia and starting pitcher Jordan Thompson for the season … Thunder Bay native Tyler Moskalyk, listed as a pitcher, has been added to the roster .. Coaches Steven Dennison and Cole Mahoney-Bruer guided the Border Cats on Thursday.



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
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