THUNDER BAY – The long wait is over.
After 17 days and 18 games, the Thunder Bay Border Cats finally got to play a game at Port Arthur Stadium this season.
Forced to the road because of turf issues and renovations to the aging facility, in preparation for the upcoming Under 18 World Baseball Cup, the Northwoods League club will have to wait at least one more game to get their first home-field victory under their belts.
Playing in front of a 1,765 fans, the Border Cats hung tough with the visiting Eau Claire Express for eight innings, but a three-run ninth put the game out of reach and they found themselves on the wrong side of a 7-3 defeat.
The loss aside, manager Mitch Feller said it’s about time.
“It’s 10 times more enjoyable to be playing home games in front of a raucous crowd of 1,700 fans. They were all energetic all nine innings. We thought we were in the game and they kept us in the game. Even though we were struggling a little bit, they kept us rocking and rolling and gave us a chance even in the ninth,” Feller said.
“It was great to have someone at our backs.”
First baseman Noah Strohl, a 6-foot-6 behemoth has lit the league on fire, driving in 16 runs in 10 games, including a pair on a sixth-inning double, while hitting a haughty .439, and said it felt great to finally step on the Port Arthur Stadium field.
“It was a good feeling to have some fans cheering for us, for once. We were getting heckled at other stadiums and coming home to a big crowd was really fun and brought our energy up. It was a good time,” Strohl said after a 3-for-5 night.
The road trip was long, but they worked through it, he added.
“We had fun with it,” Strohl said.
Luke Bandy was a one-man Cat killer, putting up a perfect 5-for-5 night at the plate, driving in three runs and stealing two of the nine bases pilfered by the Express (6-11) on Saturday night.
“Tonight was great,” said Bandy, who entered play with just two hits in 16 at bats. “While I was up there I wanted to be aggressive, but not overly aggressive, not swinging at bad pitches. I just can’t say anything else. God was on my side.”
The stolen bases are something Feller has tagged as something to work on, after his team dropped its fourth straight contest.
“Our pitching staff got too much in a rhythm. Guys on the other team were feeling their cadence with their pitches and our guys just weren’t giving our catcher a chance,” Feller said.
“We’ve been working on it with our pitchers. It’s just taking time for them to get it into muscle memory and telling them how to do it.”
Brandon Williamson (L, 0-3) got the start for the Cats (6-13) and survived five innings, giving up four runs on eight hits before giving way to long-reliever Evan Johnson, who retired the first five batters he faced and didn’t allow a run over three innings of work.
Eau Claire tacked on three more runs in the ninth, Ben Gilliand taking over on the mound and roughed up, surrendering three hits, two walks and three stolen bases.
The Cats first run came in the fourth off Eau Claire starter Ryan Zimmerman, who tossed four innings of four-hit ball to pick up the win, Mark Venice coming home on a throwing error by Bandy, the Express’ second baseman.
