THUNDER BAY – No lead is safe in the Northwoods League.
After giving up five runs in a disastrous seventh inning, the Thunder Bay Border Cats found themselves in a 10-6 hole, in desperate need for the offence to reawaken.
It didn’t happen in the seventh, but in the eighth the bats came to life.
Jordan Bach drilled a two-run shot over the right-field fence at Port Arthur Stadium to cut the Rochester Honkers lead to 10-9, then with Malachi Bosschart on in relief, the Cats proceeded to load the bases, Jeremy Sheffield and Hayden Stringfellow drawing back-to-back one-out walks to pair with Trey Fikes’ single.
Manny Alberto stepped up to the dish and hit a fly ball that was deep enough to score Fikes from third and designated hitter Braxton Templin lifted a soft flyball to centre that fell into no-man’s land, allowing Sheffield to scamper home from third with what proved to be the winning run in a remarkable, if improbable 11-10 triumph
“That’s was a really fun game. Those games are always fun. It speaks to the resilience of the team,” said Bach, who finished 2-for-4 on the night, driving in three runs.
“We were able to go through all those lead changes. And a shout-out to Jackson (Hohensee) for closing the door there. He made us a little bit scared there at the end, but it was good.”
Hohensee, who is looking like he’ll be the Border Cats closer this season, came on in the eighth and struck out a pair, retiring three of four hitters to keep it a four-run game.
The ninth was a little dicier.
Kennedy Hara drew a lead-off walk, then Keegan Landis beat out a grounder to third. Hohensee struck out Maddox Haley and Joel Roberts, but walked Brandon Contreras to load the bases and faced a 3-1 count with Ibrahim Marrero at the dish, Marrero having already drawn two walks earlier in the back-and-forth contest.
Marrero fouled off the fifth pitch, then was caught looking trying to draw ball four, the Cats escaping with a one-run triumph.
Morro said the mentality, after the Honkers put up a five-spot in the seventh, was to just keep going.
“A lot of times this year we’ve been down and we keep going and clawing back, just staying in the game said Morro, who had three hits in four trips to the plate, driving in the game’s first two runs with a first-inning single.
“It’s (about) not giving up, not giving at bats away, keeping going, staying within our approach and good things will happen.”
On four separate occasions earlier in the game the Border Cats wrested the lead from the Honkers, scoring two in the first to go up 2-0, one in the fourth to jump in front 3-2, two in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead and one in the sixth to lead 6-5.
The seventh started with promise, returnee Parker Burgess called on out of the bullpen to shut down a Honkers offence that had scored in each of the three previous innings.
He walked Marrero, Daniel Aguilera singled and then Burgess beaned Riley Forbes, who was taken out of the game as a precaution.
Burgess then walked Carson Beavers, hit Hara and then, with one out, uncorked a wild pitch that brought Aguilera into score. Burgess got a late break to the plate and Trae Cassidy’s toss bounded off Aguilera’s helmet, allowing Hara to score Rochester’s 10th run of the night.
The Border Cats pitcher escaped further damage, striking out Contreras to end the inning.
Beau Alazaus got the start for Rochester, giving up three runs on six hits over four innings. Ethan Froud started for Thunder Bay, but was pulled one out into the third, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks.
The Cats (3-3) hit the road on Sunday to start a two-game set against Willmar. They’re back at the stadium on Tuesday to take on the Duluth Huskies.
