ROCHESTER, Minn. – Lucas Johnson came through in the clutch.
The Thunder Bay Border Cats slammed his 10th double of the season in the top of the 10th inning on Sunday, with two runners in scoring position, the runs proving to be the difference in a 5-4 victory over the Rochester Honkers at Mayo Field.
Johnson extended his hitting streak to eight games in the win, going 2-for-5 with two driven in, and upped his batting average to .418, second in the Northwoods League behind teammate Jordan Bach, who finished the night at .429.
Thunder Bay took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, scoring twice on an error by Rochester third baseman Joel Roberts.
The Honkers got one back in the bottom half of the first, a Roberts sacrifice fly scoring Keegan Landis, who had reached on a fielder’s choice.
But it was all they’d get off of Thunder Bay starter Cameron Johnson, who lasted into the seventh, leaving with one out after giving up one run on four hits and two walks, striking out five.
Corey Morro delivered a third Thunder Bay run with a sacrifice fly of his own in the top of the seventh, but the Honkers erased the Thunder Bay lead in the eighth with Jackson Irwin on the mound in relief.
A hit by pitch and back-to-back singles, the second by Roberts, led to Rochester’s second run of the night.
Then, with two outs, Drew Charney singled in the equalizer. With runners on first and third, Irwin retired Ibrahim Marrero on a grounder to third.
Brady Lejeune=Deacutis needed just eight pitches to retire the Cats in order in the ninth. Irwin retired the first two Rochester batters in the bottom of the ninth, but two straight singles put the winning run in scoring position before Roberts hit into a fielder’s choice to send the game to extra innings.
Carter Wall gave up two hits and a run in the bottom of the 10th, but after giving up two singles to put the tying and go-ahead runs aboard, settled down to retire Allan Camarillo, Marrero and Kai Caranto to earn the save.
It was the fifth straight win for Thunder Bay (17-10), who pulled to within 2.5 games of first-place La Crosse after the Loggers (20-8) lost 22-3 to Willmar on Sunday. They’re a game-and-a-half back of Waterloo (19-9), who downed Mankato 17-13.
The Cats travel to Waterloo on Monday for the first of two against the Bucks and wrap up their six-game road trip with games against St. Cloud on Wednesday and Thursday. They’ll host Mankato at home on Friday and Saturday before wrapping up first-half play on Sunday and Monday against Waterloo.
