THUNDER BAY – Cole Ketzner says the Thunder Bay Border Cats need to do a better job of finishing off their opponents.
The Cats left 11 men on base on Wednesday afternoon, including stranding Alex Urlab on third in the bottom of the eighth inning, and dropped a 6-5 decision to the visiting Waterloo Bucks, the team’s playing their second of three games on the day.
The game was scheduled for seven innings.
“We left too many guys on today,” said Ketzner, who slashed a single to left in the fifth that plated a pair of runs, giving the Cats a 5-4 lead, in a game that was only slated for seven innings after Tuesday night’s game was stopped in the third inning due to rain, leading to the three-game day for both teams.
“We left 11 guys on base and usually when you do that, you don’t really have a great chance of winning. That’s really what happened. I thought we came out of the gates really well in the first game. And I thought we came out well in this game, but like I said, we left too many guys on base.”
Thunder Bay loaded the bases with one out in the second, but came away empty, Waterloo starter Evan Morrison settling down to strike out Urlaub and got Lucas Terilli to ground out to second.
They also left the bases loaded in the fifth against Bucks reliever Ethan Alexander, Zane Skansi rolling a ball up the middle for an easy force out at second.
Ketzner wasn’t making excuses, despite the gruelling day faced by both teams.
“We all look at it like we get to play baseball today, not that we have to play three games. We get to play three games. We were kind of excited today. Not many people get to say they played three games in one day at the collegiate level,” Ketzner said.
“We swung it well today and we’re looking to swing it better tonight in those clutch situations with runners in scoring position.
The Bucks didn’t do a much better job plating runs when they had the chance, also stranding 11 base runners in the contest.
But they got the key hit they needed when it mattered most.
Waterloo catcher Zachary Mazoch, drilled the first pitch he saw in the top of the eighth, his first at bat of the contest, off the wall in right, scoring Jay Williams, who started the frame on second base, a Northwoods League rule in extra innings designed to prevent lengthy games.
“A lot of our guys have been getting hit with the fastball early. It’s a riding fastball that’s tough to hit, but I excel in hitting those. I think we had a good scouting report on (Heppner) going into that inning, so I just tried to get my (bat) head out and put a ball in play,” Mazoch said.
Waterloo jumped out in front in the first, after lead-off hitter Lucas Moore doubled off Shane Kearbey to start the game.
He took third on a ground out and scored on a Brennan Hudson groundout to second.
The Cats battled back in their half of the first, Kyle Morrison doubling home Zane Skansi, who it a one-out double off Morrison to put himself in scoring position.
The Bucks added two more in the second, fuelled by one-out solo shot off the bat of Larry Edwards. Add in a couple of walks and an RBI single by Moore and Waterloo led 3-1. Kooper Schulte doubled in another run in the fourth.
Thunder Bay’s comeback began in the third. Brody Crisman doubled in Kyle Morrison after Smith couldn’t make a diving catch in left.
Alexander retired the first two batters he faced in the fourth, but a walk and back-to-back singles by Terilli and Skansi cut the Waterloo lead to 4-3 and Ketzner laced a single to right to put the Cats in front 5-4.
Heppner loaded the bases in the sixth then threw a wild pitch that allowed Williams to score the tying run. He struck out the side in the seventh, but the Cats failed to score, sending the game to extra innings. Chaney Trout walked Mathews with two outs, but struck out Urlaub to earn the save for the Bucks.
The Cats (12-8) and Bucks (11-9) will wrap up play at 6:35 p.m. Thunder Bay leads Duluth by half a game in the Great Plains East Division.
