THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Border Cats still control their own playoff destiny, but things just got a lot murkier.
Ryan Nagelbach, the third batter of the night for the Eau Claire Express, smacked a three-run, first-inning home run, his sixth of the season, and led his team back into a first-place tie atop the Great Plains East Division, percentage points behind the Border Cats following their 8-0 whitewashing at Port Arthur Stadium.
The Cats (16-12) and Express (17-13) both have four games left in the first half, with Rochester (16-14) and Duluth (15-13) also hot in the hunt and still in action on Thursday night.
Thunder Bay starter Caden Fiveash simply didn’t have it against the Express, allowing the first five batters of the game to reach as Eau Claire batted around and took an early 4-0 lead.
Jake Matthaidess did not have similar issues on the mound for the Express.
The Eau Claire hurler didn’t allow a run over seven innings of six-hit ball, striking out four while walking just one, while lowering his ERA to a miserly 1.96.
Michael Trausch and Matt Zahora were just as effective in one-inning stints out of the bullpen, allowing a single hit each to preserve the shutout.
Bronson Rivera also homered for Eau Claire, extending the lead from 6-0 to 8-0 in the sixth.
The Border Cats had runners on first and second in the third and seventh inning, but couldn’t solve Matthaidess.
Travis Chestnut and Patrick Engskov had two hits apiece for Thunder Bay. Billy Humphrey, Cole Poirrier, Barron Sawyer and Peyton Leon cleaned up out of the bullpen for the Border Cats, with two runs each charged to Humphrey and Poirrier.
Thunder Bay welcomes the Northwoods League’s top team, the Willmar Stingers (20-7) to Port Arthur Stadium on Friday, the start of a four-game series that will determine whether or not the Border Cats capture the Great Plains East first-half crown.
Eau Claire has two against Duluth and two against Rochester, while Duluth finishes the first half against Bismarck (14-15) on Sunday and Monday.
Teams play an uneven schedule, due to the odd number of teams in the Great Plains East and Great Plains West Division, so first place will be decided by the team with the best winning percentage after Monday’s games.
Willmar beat Bismarck 14-1 on Thursday night to clinch the Great Plains West first-half title.
Division winners in each half will advance to the Northwoods League playoffs.
