THUNDER BAY – The more things change, the more they stay the same at Port Arthur Stadium.
For the fourth straight spring, the Thunder Bay Border Cats dropped their season-opener, blowing a 7-1 lead over the Duluth Huskies on Tuesday night, including a five-spot off would-be closer Staley Hangsen, resulting in an 8-7 defeat.
Preston Hartsell homered to score two in the sixth to start the comeback, then doubled home another in the ninth and came home to score the winning run on a Danny Zimmerman double to earn the Huskies, who lost in last year’s Northwoods League championship, the Opening Day triumph.
Duluth’s centre-fielder said it just goes to show how important it is to keep playing for a full nine innings.
“It’s tough when it’s this cold,” the University of Southern California freshman said. “Not all of us are from the cold, so it was big to keep that energy up.”
Hartsell, a former All-American in high school, where he hit .396 over his four-year career, started the offensive ball rolling in the sixth, drilling a 3-2 pitch off Border Cats reliever Logan Hooley deep over the wall in right-centre, the ball coming to rest in the dog park adjacent to the stadium.
“That home run was my first ball in contact of the summer, so that was a good start,” he said.
In the ninth, he said it was simply a matter of trying to keep their chances alive.
“It was just about getting the next guy up. I had two strikes and I was like whatever happens, don’t strike out.”
Matt Hogan tied the game one batter later, plating Ramon Enriquez from third on a sacrifice fly, before Zimmerman completed the comeback with his game-winning double.
It marked the end of a roller-coaster ride of an opener for the Border Cats, who played their first game in front of 1,215 fans.
Trailing 1-0 after three, Thunder Bay tied things up in the fourth, Canadian Jakob Newton singling, stealing second and scoring on a Joe Moran single.
They appeared to put the game away in the fifth, scoring six times, showing plenty of plate discipline with reliever Erik Kaizer subbing for starter Dane Morrow to start the inning.
Kaizer faced control issues, walking Nate Soriano to open the frame. Ryne Edmondson took first on a dropped third strike and Jake Engel followed with a run-scoring single to give the Border Cats their first lead of the night.
Two walks, sandwiching a wild pitch, led to two more Thunder Bay runs and ended Kaiser’s night, replaced by Alex Rao, who quickly struck out Canadian Thomas Grilli for the second out of the inning.
But seeing-eye singles by Bryce Jorgenson and Soriano scored Newton and Alexander Hernandez, Edmondson drawing a bases-loaded walk that scored the Cats sixth run of the inning and gave them a 7-1 lead.
That’s the positive, said Soriano, who had three hits and a walk in six trips to the plate.
He wasn’t putting too much stock in the eventual outcome.
“You know, that’s baseball,” said the Houston Baptist University shortstop. “Tonight we really gelled as a team for the first time. We put up a lot of runs. But it happens. We’re going to come out tomorrow and be better.”
Manager Eric Vasquez, who planned to use six pitchers on Day 1, stayed true to his word, pulling starter Trent Valentine after two hitless innings. Tyler Hansen, Hooley and Alex Dafoe tossed two innings apiece.
“It’s not the script that you wanted. In my head all morning we were going to win 5-0, we were going to win 6-0. We were not going to walk anybody. It’s baseball and the realistic part of it is we do make mistakes, but we have to get better,” Vasquez said.
The Border Cats defence was strong, completing a rare 4-6-3-2 double play that nailed Bradley Norton at the plate in the fifth to preserve the tie at the time.
The loss went to Hansgen, while Logan VanWey struck out four over the final two innings to earn the win.
Cat tracks: The Border Cats held a moment of silence before the game for former team ambassador Colin Lennstrom, who passed away during the off-season … Edmondson struck out five times in the No. 2 spot, including in the ninth with Jorgenson on second representing the tying run …The Cats and Huskies will tangle again on Wednesday night.
