DULUTH, Minn. – A six-run first by the Duluth Huskies pretty much sealed the Thunder Bay Border Cats fate on Tuesday night.
The Huskies jumped all over Thunder Bay starter Robert Spencer in the opening inning, with six of the first seven batters reaching safely before he was removed in favour of Billy Humphrey.
Unfortunately for the Cats, it took Humphrey a few batters to get going and three more runners came into score, the big hit a two-run, bases-loaded single by Duluth’s Joshua Duarte as the Huskies sent 11 batters to the plate and took a 6-1 lead.
It was more of the same in the second.
Humphrey allowed the first two batters to reach and Michael Hallquist responded with a single to centre that scored one run. He came home on Jared Mettam’s two-run single and the Border Cats trailed 9-1.
The two teams traded runs in the third and fourth, but the Huskies added two more in the fifth and lead 12-2.
Thunder Bay scored three in the seventh to close the gap to 12-5, but it was as close as they’d come, going on to lose 13-6, their second straight defeat to drop to 2-6 in second-half play.
Trey Lewis was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI for Thunder Bay and Travis Chestnut and Logan Johnstone had two hits apiece and each crossed the plate twice.
Spencer, charged with six runs on two hits and three walks over two-thirds of an inning, took the loss. Humphrey also surrendered six runs, giving up eight hits and walking one, taking the Cats through the fifth.
Alex Potter lasted six innings for Duluth, allowing five runs, four of them earned, while allowing seven hits and five walks. He picked up the win, improving to 3-0.
