THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Border Cats aren’t ready to play spoiler yet.
They’re doing a good job of it, but with the math still on their side, the Northwoods League team is doing what it can to jump back in the playoff hunt in the Great Plains East Division, despite being 6.5 games back with just 11 games left to play.
The took another step in that direction on Tuesday night, hanging on to edge the first-place Duluth Huskies 8-7 at Port Arthur Stadium, a nail-biter of a contest that saw the Cats take the lead on three separate occasions.
First baseman Jacob Steinberg doubled twice and drove in four runs, including a bases clearing knock in a five-run second that put the Border Cats up 7-3 at the time.
But it was reliever Tyler Talbert who delivered the win.
A converted starter who wants to be a closer, Talbert came on in the eighth inning with one out and the bases loaded, and proceeded to strike out Ethan Surowiec – who homered earlier in the contest – and George McIntyre on six pitches to end the threat.
He then got out of a jam of his own making in the ninth to preserve the win, striking out Tyler Palmer to strand a pair of Huskies runners on second and third.
“I’m kind of making a change into being a closer and I’m just coming in there trying to pound the zone. The first inning went well, I was just pounding it. The second got away from me a little bit, but I was able to use my slider and get out of it.”
Thunder Bay starter John McDonald found trouble of his own in the early going, menaced by the long ball.
In the first, Surowiec launched a high fly ball to deep centre that cleared the yellow line on the outfield fence and got the signal from the umpiring crew to circle the bases, the solo shot giving the Huskies an early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Steinberg started a two-out rally, doubling home Kaiden Ashton from third against Duluth starter Owen Marsolek. He then scored on Calvin Warrillow’s RBI double, and the Cats took a 2-1 lead after one.
Jake Downing went deep on McDonald with one out in the second, but the Cats got the runs back and more in their next trip to the plate. A one-out double by No. 9 hitter Devon Smith evened the game 3-3. Then, with the bases full, Steinberg smacked a double to centre that cleared the basepaths. Warrillow followed with his second double of the night, the five-run outburst giving Thunder Bay a 7-3 advantage.
“A lot of guys had a lot of great at bats and that starter for them had been really good for them the last month or so, just kind of mixing pitches. Thankfully we were able to cash in and score some runs early and give us a comfortable lead,” Steinberg said.
The Huskies weren’t done, by any stretch.
Rowan Kelly walked with the bases loaded to score the first of two runs in the third and then Paul Contreras singled in the second run, cutting Thunder Bay’s lead to 7-5. Contreras doubled in another run in the fifth and Kelly singled in the sixth to plate the tying run, the Huskies battling back into a 7-7 deadlock, the inning ending on a diving stab by rightfielder Caleb Watkins that prevented Nate Vargas from doubling home the go-ahead run.
Duluth got the first two runners on against Carson Priebe in the seventh, but the reliever battled back to retire three straight.
In the bottom of the inning, the Border Cats loaded the bases with one out and got the run they needed to take the lead, Watkins lining a ball to centre, the sacrifice fly scoring Jeremy Sheffield. Duluth reliever Carter Boos got out of the jam relatively unscathed, getting Dylan Snead to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The Cats (11-14) play the Huskies, (18-8) whose magic number to clinch the second-half title is seven, again on Wednesday night.
Cat tracks: Thunder Bay leads the Superior Cup series 4-1 after Tuesday night's result.
