THUNDER BAY – With a single blow of his bat, Cole Ketzner put the Duluth Huskies in a hole they’d never escape.
With the bases loaded, just three batters into the opening game of Thursday night’s twi-night doubleheader, the Thunder Bay Border Cats first baseman slammed the first pitch he saw off Huskies right-hander off the light standard in right-field.
Ketzner’s blast, the first home run hit by a Border Cats player this season at Port Arthur Stadium, vaulted the home team out in front 4-0.
They’d add five more in the second, all off Gray and all but one earned, and went on to trounce the Huskies 14-1.
It was their fifth win in five appearances at home and upped the team’s record to 8-1 on the season, the loan loss coming on the road against LaCrosse in their fourth game of the 2024 campaign.
“It felt really good,” said Ketzner, in his second season with the Border Cats.
“We had (Gray) on the ropes early and I just looked for something to hit hard. I was hoping it was a fastball and I got one. I hit it pretty well. I didn’t think it was going to go out, but we’ll take it.”
Every Thunder Bay starter scored at least one run, with the exception of second baseman Ty Brooks – though every starter did drive in at least one run.
Right-fielder Jacob Miller also had a big game, going 4-for-5 at the dish, doubling, scoring twice and driving in one run.
On the mound, starter Kasai Sugimoto was dominant for most of the game, tossing six innings of seven-hit ball, striking out nine and allowing just a single earned run.
The Cats didn’t let their foot off the gas for a single second, adding five more runs off Gray in the second, chasing the Duluth starter after he was only able to retire five Thunder Bay hitters.
“That’s just kind of baseball,” Ketzner said. “You get up 4-0, four’s nothing. Anything can happen in baseball. Even if it’s a seven-inning game, one swing, like you saw, can put up four runs. So we were like we’ve got to keep putting up runs so they can’t catch up and keep the momentum rolling.”
Manager J.M. Kelly said there’s not much to say about a game like that, one in which the opposition pitchers surrendered a dozen walks and hit two batters. The Huskies defenders were also charged with five errors.
“It wasn’t all us, but we put the ball in play when we needed to. We hit the ball hard and obviously Ketz’s home run in the first set the tone for the entire game. And then Kensai, you can’t really ask for much more than that from a starter. So really, everything was clicking,’ Kelly said.
It was the first of two games the Border Cats were playing on Thursday, the game a makeup contest for Wednesday’s rainout.
The win improved the first-place Cats record to 8-1. Duluth slipped to 5-4, three games out of top spot.
Game 2 is set for 8:30 p.m.
