THUNDER BAY – The second half of the Northwoods League season continues to slip away from the Thunder Bay Border Cats.
After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Sunday against the visiting Eau Claire Express, the Border Cats couldn’t hang on, giving up three in the second, one in the third and four in the fourth, going down to a 12-7 defeat in front of 789 fans at Port Arthur Stadium.
The loss drops Thunder Bay to 4-10 in second-half play, alone in last place in the Great Plains East.
Things started out promisingly for the Cats, thanks in part to a Tyrus Hall double that plated a pair of Express starter, who walked two of the first three batters he faced. A Hayden Stringfellow sacrifice fly accounted for the third Thunder Bay run.
The long ball got to Cats starter Jeff Tiw in the second.
Sam Erickson smashed a 1-1 count over the fence in centre to lead off the innings and, after retiring the next two batters, Tiw walked Matthew Cormier and Jackson Glueck homered to left, tying the game 3-3.
A J.J. Moran RBI single in the third gave the Express the lead for good.
In the fourth, Marelino Alonso grounded out into a run-scoring 5-4-3 double play, but Dante Vachini followed with a run scoring triple before back-to-back walks loaded the bases and ended Tiw’s afternoon.
Erickson singled off reliever Nate Herchock, scoring two more and the Express took an 8-3 lead.
Eau Clarie added single runs in the seventh and eighth to up their advantage to 10-3, then after Thunder Bay got one back in the bottom of the eighth, they added two more for good measure in the ninth.
Thunder Bay, down 12-4, battled back to score three in their final turn at bat, but fell five runs short and will have four days to turn things around as the league stops for its annual all-star break.
Caleb Watkins, Duncan Key and Corey Morro had RBIs for Thunder Bay.
Andres Castro, who took over for Arlich in the fourth, earned the win, going three strong out of the bullpen.
Tiw was saddled with the loss, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk before giving way to Collin Berry with two outs in the third. The Border Cats needed seven pitchers to get through this one.
