THUNDER BAY – Out with the old, in with the new and more of the same for the Thunder Bay Border Cats.
After coming tantalizing close to clinching the Great Plains East’s first-half playoff spot, and a day after a dozen players bid their farewell to the Northwoods League, the Border Cats broke out the big sticks that carried them to a 21-13 record through June and opened the second half of he season with 15-5 over the visiting Waterloo Bucks.
Third baseman Manny Alberto had a 4-for-4 afternoon, rocking a two-run triple in the first that erased an early 1-0 Waterloo lead.
Camden Tanner, another first-half holdover, had a bases loaded triple in the five-run fifth and an inning later newcomer Ayden Hadley blasted a two-out, two-run homer over the yellow line above the 385-foot mark in centre.
It’s a good sign, said Tanner, who had just 8 RBIs in 17 first-half appearances.
“We had a pretty hot offence in the first half and I think one was question was would we still be able to keep swinging it. I think today we got some new guys and our offence put out today,” said Tanner, after completing a 2-for-3 day at the plate that also included a pair of walks, his season average improving to .237.
Top to bottom on Monday, the Cats hitters produced. All but one player in the lineup had ate least one hit, and just two players didn’t drive in at least one run.
Hadley, a Langley, B.C. native – one of six Canadians in the Canada Day lineup – doubled with two outs in his first at bat in a Border Cats uniform to spark a two-run rally in the first and drilled the first pitch he saw from Body Leyboldt for his first Northwoods League home run.
Hadley said it’s only one game, but so far, he likes what he sees.
“I think we’ve got a good squad here. We’ve got a lot of guys coming in here for the second half. We’ve got a lot of guys leave from the first half, who obviously did a great job. We’re just going to play as hard as we can and keep doing our thing,” Hadley said.
Getting that first home run out of the way in Game 1 is also a relief, said Hadley, a redshirt sophomore at Sacramento State University.
“It was awesome, man. Such a good environment here. Such a good feel, it’s so cool here. Just (looking for) fastball,” Hadley said. “I was hunting my pitch.”
Waterloo took a 1-0 lead in the first, but other than the walk that put Jake Bechtel on first, it was hardly starter John McDonald’s fault.
Bechtel stole second and Hadley’s throw sailed into centre and he took third. Bechtel scored on Marcus Heusohn’s sacrifice fly.
McDonald survived in the fourth, but was knocked out of the contest atter Owen Ross’s two-run double gave the Bucks a 3-2 lead.
Will Humphrey, who played for Thunder Bay in 2023, got them out of the inning and the Cats evened things up in their turn at bat when Bechtel’s throw from right skipped past catcher Jimmy Nugent, plating Alberto from third.
Thunder Bay broke things open in the fifth, scoring five times, then added two more in the sixth to make it 10-3.
Humphrey didn’t allow a hit over 2.1 innings of work, setting the table for Rylan Newman and Jabe Schlebuber to close things out over the final three innings. Waterloo got two back in the eighth, but down 13-5, put Heusohn, the starting first baseman, on the mound.
Topping out at 67 miles an hour, Heusohn was touched up for a pair of runs to wrap up the scoring.
The Cats and Bucks wrap up their four-game series on Wednesday night at Port Arthur Stadium.
Cat tracks: Attendance was 1,512. The team is now averaging 992 fans a night.
