LA CROSSE – The Thunder Bay Border Cats dropped a second straight on Friday night, despite twice taking three-run leads on the La Crosse Loggers.
The Loggers scored three in the fifth to tie the game, then added two more in the bottom of the sixth, powering their way to an 8-6 triumph and a sweep of their two-game series that capped off a 1-5 road trip for the struggling Border Cats (3-9).
Thunder Bay staged a two-out rally in the opening inning, leading to a Trey Fikes RBI single that opened the scoring against La Crosse reliever Mattew Cornelius, who gave up four walks and hitting two batters in the frame.
Both Tyrus Hall and Hayden Stringfellow walked with the bases loaded to each drive in a run of their own.
The Loggers only needed one pitch to tie things up against Braden Gluth in the bottom of the first.
Eli Small, who stepped to the plate with two aboard, smashed a home run to centre, evening the game at 3-3.
The Cats retook the lead in the second on a Jeremy Sheffield sacrifice fly, then added two more, the first on a bases-loaded walk with Caleb Watkins at the plate and then, one batter later, Dylan Snead to hit by a pitch, Thunder Bay taking a 6-3 lead.
Once again it was Small who helped the comeback bid.
With two batters aboard, Small hit his second home run of the game off of Gluth, the two-run shot, evening the score 6-6.
They took the lead for good, their first of the night, off reliever Peter Fusek. Back-to-back walks, along with a wild pitch, left runners on second and third with two outs for Eddie Peters, who promptly singled to right to score both runners.
La Crosse starter Caden Richardson lasted just four pitches before being removed. Jake Jakubowski earned the win, pitching three innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Fusek took the loss, his record now 0-1. Gluth allowed six runs on five hits, walking four and striking out four over five innings of work.
The Cats return home on Saturday to face the Eau Claire Express (7-5). Game time is 6:35 p.m. at Port Arthur Stadium.
