ROCHESTER – With one out in the fifth, Calvin Warrillow singled.
Dylan Snead turned the trick with one out in the sixth.
They were the only hits the Thunder Bay Border Cats could muster on Friday night, going down to an 8-0 defeat at the hands of the host Rochester Honkers, dropping their first game back after the Northwoods League’s annual all-star break.
The Cats just couldn’t get it going against Honkers starter Zack Serup, who walked two and hit one in addition to the two hits he allowed over 5.1 innings of shutout baseball.
The Rochester bullpen was even better, walking just three the rest of the way to preserve a 4-0 lead, the Honkers putting it away with a four-run seventh.
Thunder Bay starter Jeff Tiw found himself down 1-0 entering the third and didn’t get the help he needed behind them as the Honkers scored three times in the frame to jump ahead 4-0.
Two of the runs came as the result of an error by shortstop Junior Lopez, one of two he made in the contest. The third came on a groundout by Payton Knowles that would have ended the inning had the miscue not occurred.
It too was unearned.
Tiw lasted four innings, surrendering four runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out two.
In the seventh, Bracken Rice, who took over after Ethan Froud allowed the first two Rochester batters to reach, hit Luke Stulga with the bases loaded, then threw a wild pitch that scored Josh Outlaw from third.
Knowles singled in a third run and Miguel Cantu’s sacrifice fly plated the fourth run of the inning.
The loss, the Cats second straight, drops Thunder Bay to 4-11. Rochester improved to 6-10. The two teams tangle again on Saturday night in Rochester.
