THUNDER BAY – On a night when arms were at a premium, putting up nine runs in an inning made things a heck of a lot easier for Border Cats manager Joe Ellison.
The Cats sent 14 batters to the plate in the fourth, loading the bases with one out against the second-place La Crosse Loggers, who had won two of the first three games of the four-game series, played at Port Arthur Stadium.
Aided by a couple of Loggers miscues in the field, seven straight Thunder Bay batters reached base safely in the frame, the key blows a two-run single by Manny Alberto, a two-run double by Ty Hamilton and finally a second two-run single off the bat of second baseman Greg LaChance.
It was part of a 17-hit attack by the top-hitting team in the Northwoods League, the Border Cats hitters combining to slug at a .289 clip through 23 games.
“We knew we were short today,” said Ellison, the Cats first-year manager. “We knew we were probably going to have to ask something out of two or three guys, but we ended up not having to do that, thank goodness.
“That nine-spot was massive. That’s the turning point in the game. It gave us the opportunity to take the pressure off the pitching staff and put us in a situation where (Jacob) Miller can come in and throw some strikes and get some outs and get it to Jackson (Hohensee) at the end.”
Miller, of course, is the Border Cats catcher, first baseman and sometimes designated hitter, who took over from starter Tyler Talbert, who was solid through four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth, allowing five of the six batters he faced to reach, finally chased after issuing a one-out, bases-loaded walk to the Loggers Mateo Gray.
Miller was promptly greeted by a Cole Eaton double that plated a pair, a 12-2 game suddenly a 12-6 contest. He managed to escape without further damage, retiring Zach Wadas and Kanon Sundgren to end the threat.
The Thunder Bay bats got right back to work in the bottom half of the inning.
With the sacks full, Hayden Stringfellow lined a single to left, just out of the reach of La Crosse third baseman Eddie Peters, who was playing in trying to keep the Border Cats from adding to their lead. They’d hit the sixth up 15-6.
La Crosse added one in the sixth and two more in the seventh, but Hohensee came on to start the eighth and got out of a two-on, two out jam before a relatively clean ninth, the only blemish a throwing error by shortstop Alberto, his second error of the night.
“It was extra special,” said Stringfellow, the Border Cats improving to 13-10, with a dozen games left in the first half, leaving them 4.5 games behind Waterloo and 3.5 games behind the Loggers (17-7) in the Northwoods League’s Great Plains East Division.
“We’ve got Waterloo tomorrow and they’re the No. 1 team, so we’ve got a lot of momentum going into that.”
Stringfellow, who took over at third when Corey Morro left the game early, finished 3-for-5, drove in three runs and said everyone is seeing beach balls at the plate of late.
“I think it’s approach. Everyone’s really talented on this team. Everyone’s not taking selfish swings at the plate. Everyone’s doing their jobs at the plate, drawing out at bats and doing everything they can to help.”
The Cats were outscored 50-49 in the series, winning two and losing two.
