THUNDER BAY – Some days, the ball just flies off the bat.
Others, not so much.
Sunday was one of those games that the Thunder Bay Border Cats just couldn’t get the offence moving, a not-unexpected letdown after putting up a franchise record 25 runs against the Eau Claire Express in the opening game of their two-game series at Port Arthur Stadium.
Stymied by a solid all-around pitching effort and only able to squeeze out two hits, the Border Cats went down to a 4-0 defeat, dropping to 10-14 in second-half play.
Eau Claire starter Dawson Hargrove was phenomenal, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out eight over five innings, and the bullpen was even stronger, giving up just a single hit, facing one batter over the minimum, to prevent a late-game comeback by the Border Cats.
“It’s baseball. Obviously, it would have been nice to fight a little bit more. But when you put up 25 in one day, you kind of expect a little bit of a lull,” said Thunder Bay manager Joe Elliott.
“It was disappointing, but they pitched well. Their starter was good, their bullpen was strong.”
Stuff like that just happens, said Thunder Bay shortstop Junior Lopez, who had one of the team’s three hits on the day.
“Some days you’re hot and everything starts working for the team. We weren’t putting bad swings up. We were putting balls in play, we just couldn’t get it together,” Lopez said.
The Cats best chance to put something on the board came in the first.
Hargrove walked Kaiden Ashton to lead off the inning, then Lopez laid down a perfect bunt and beat it out hustling down the line, putting runners on first and second with no outs.
No worries.
Hargrove got the hot-hitting Jeremy Shefield to strike out, then after both runners stole bases to sit on second and third, the Eau Claire starter struck out Jacob Steinberg and Calvin Warrillow to end the threat.
The Express finally broke the scoreless tie in the third.
Matthew Cormier hit a lead-off homer to left off Thunder Bay starter Jackson Irwin, and Alex Hendrickson later scored on a McGwire Turner two-out single, giving the Express a 2-0 lead.
Sheffield led off the fifth with a single but was erased trying to steal second and the opportunity fizzled.
An Ayden Hadley lead-off walk in the fifth went nowhere, but a pair of Hargrove strikeouts and a flyout by Ashton kept the game a two-run affair.
The Express doubled their lead in the seventh, with Jabe Schlehuber on in relief.
With two aboard, Turner singled, scoring both runners.
Grant Faris came in and got the Cats out of a jam, albeit in unorthodox fashion.
Dante Vacnini hit into what would prove to be a 4-2-5-6-3 double play, catching both Turner and Vachini, who moved too far off first during a rundown, off base to end the inning.
Hadley singled with two outs in the seventh, but was stranded, and the Express bullpen, led by Bridger Hamilton and Austin Steeves, retired the final seven batters in order to preserve the win, leaving the second place Express (14-12) four games behind first-place Duluth – who will come to town for games Tuesday and Wednesday at the Stadium.
The Cats (10-14), who have Monday off, lead the Superior Cup battle 3-1 this season.
