THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Border Cats have proven they can hit.
They still need to prove they can pitch.
Manager Joe Ellison can breathe a little easier after Wednesday night’s home opener.
Starter Makaio Cisneros tossed four innings of three-hit shutout ball, striking out seven and walking just one, and the Cats ran their way to victory, stealing 12 bases to pull out a 14-9 win over the visiting Rochester Honkers in front of 1,369 Opening Day fans at Port Arthur Stadium.
Not once did they send fewer than five batters to the plate, putting up runs in each of the final seven innings of the game.
Offensively, designated hitter Trae Cassidy led the charge, going 5-for-5 at the plate, with five runs, four steals, a double and two RBI.
Ellison, whose team improved to 2-1, said they talked about making adjustments on the mound, after giving up 31 walks in two games on the road to start the 2025 Northwoods League campaign.
“I think they all know what they have to do and I think it goes back to the pressure they feel and some of the guys being a little green getting back into playing, whether they were in that gap year or they didn’t throw as many innings as they wanted through this year in college,” Ellison said.
“So, for them to get their feet back under them, I think it’s going to improve each time out – but there’s a focus on strike throwing moving forward.”
Cisneros and relievers Cameron Johnson and John McDonald brought much better control to the mound, combining to walk just five batters over seven innings, before things started to implode in the ninth, when Luke Zmolik struggled to finish off hitters, despite several two-strike counts, walking five and hitting two, which led to five runs crossing the plate.
The tying run actually made its way to the on-deck circle in the ninth, but closer Jackson Hohensee shut the door, coming in with the bases loaded and two outs to strike out Jerry Fletcher on three pitches to end the game.
“It starts off with the starting pitching,” Cassidy said.
“Putting up zeroes all the way up to the fifth inning was huge for the team. Building those runs early, that helped a lot.”
Rochester starter Malachi Bosschart wasn’t quite as effective as his Thunder Bay counterpart. He escaped the first, stranding a pair of runners, but a lack of control resulted in back-to-back run-scoring wild pitches, Cassidy and Hayden Stringfellow scoring to give the home team an early 2-0 lead.
They kept building from there.
Lucas Johnson singled in Cassidy with one out in the third, and then in the fourth, the Cats doubled their lead, swiping six bases on reliever Brayden Peterson. Manny Alberto and Cassidy had back-to-back RBI singles and Corey Morey walked with the bases loaded, the first batter faced by Honkers reliever Daniel Musgjerd.
The Cats added another run in the fifth before the Honkers bats finally started rolling in the sixth.
Down 7-0, Johnson issued three walks to the first four batters he faced in the inning. John McDonald took over with one out and the bases loaded, got Keegan Landis to ground out before Drew Charney plated two more with a single to right.
Undaunted, the Border Cats got two back in the bottom half of the inning, then added three more in the seventh and two in the eighth to jump in front 14-4.
“The approach today was to attack the heater,” Cassidy said. “We didn’t know much about the pitcher, so we just decided to … get our pitch to hit and drive it.”
The first-place Cats (2-1) and Honkers (1-2) play Game 2 of their four-game series on Thursday night at the Stadium. First pitch is 6:35 p.m.
