THUNDER BAY – When starter Jackson Irwin barely made it out of the first inning, it was clear the Thunder Bay Border Cats were probably in for a long night.
Irwin allowed the first two batters he faced to reach, gave up a two-run double to Maddox Haley and then, after recording two outs, hit Keegan Landis, walked Drew Charney and gave up a two-run single to No. 9 hitter Brandon Contreras.
After 37 pitches, Irwin’s day was done, the Northwoods League’s 35-pitch rule leaving manager Joe Ellison no choice but to turn to an already overworked bullpen.
By then, the damage was done.
The Cats (2-3), who trailed 12-2 at one point, did put up four runs before the Rochester Honkers (3-2) recorded an out in the eighth, but it was as close as they’d get, going down to a 12-6 defeat.
The strong finish does give the team a little confidence, said Thunder Bay clean-up hither Jeremy Sheffield, who went 2-for-5 at the dish and scored a pair of runs.
“I think the biggest part is we showed some fight. It’s a long season and it’s about taking every inning, winning every inning we can,” Sheffield said. “I think as we continue to build on this, we’ll show to be a pretty good ballclub.”
Contreras, who homered, doubled and scored twice, driving in three runs on a 3-for-4 night at the plate, said the strong start made the rest of the night a heck of a lot easier.
“It definitely puts us into a rhythm. We get those first runs, it gives Hayden (Mullins) some leeway to keep shoving as he is and gives him a little room to make more mistakes, which he didn’t even make any. But it takes the pressure off our pitcher and our defence, for sure,” Contreras said.
Mullins, the Rochester starter, was solid through five innings, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk, striking out seven to earn the win.
He also helped himself out with his glove.
In the second, the Cats having already plated a pair, had the bases loaded with one out and were threatening to cut a little more into the Honkers lead. But Mullins struck out Corey Morro then flashed the leather on a wicked line drive off the bat of Thunder Bay leadoff hitter Kael Babin to end the threat.
Issac Hines took over for Irwin to start the second and lasted two-and-a-third, giving up a pair of runs, including Contreras’ home run to right, before giving way to Cameron Johnson with two outs in the fourth.
“I’ve been working on getting the barrel out a little bit more. (Hines) threw a first-pitch fastball after walking (Drew) Charney, so I thought maybe a ball was coming, or something off-speed. I took that strike, I wanted to hit it, but I took it. I was expecting something in the zone again and he threw me a change-up that hung right there and I just got the bat head out front. Like the coaches say, elevate, celebrate,” Contreras said.
The redshirt freshman from Rutgers retired seven of the first eight batters he faced, but after getting out of a jam in the seventh, things went south in the eighth. Contreras doubled to open the inning, then after a walk, Kennedy Hara singled up the middle and Babin, the Thunder Bay centrefielder, let it slip through the wickets, the ball rolling toward the wall allowing a pair of unearned runs to score.
By the time the inning was over, the Honkers had added six more to their tally.
Thunder Bay’s Porter Jorgenson shut down the Rochester offence, going one-and-a-third innings of shutout ball, but the Border Cats bats didn’t have quite enough juice to mount a full comeback.
The two teams play again on Saturday to wrap up their four-game series at Port Arthur Stadium. First pitch is 6:35 p.m.
