THUNDER BAY – It’s not always how you start the game, but how you finish.
Jeremy Sheffield homered in the fifth inning with two aboard to start the Thunder Bay Border Cats comeback from a 6-2 deficit on Thursday night at the hands of the visiting Willmar Stingers. Then, after loading the bases against reliever Ben Bohlmann, Caleb Watkins drew a run-scoring walk to tie the game and Dylan Sead grounded out to third, plating Calvin Warrillow with what proved to be the game-winning run.
Side-arm southpaw Carter Wall came on to close things out in the sixth, pitching two innings of no-hit, shutout ball to hold off the Stingers (12-11), who trail Mankato by two games in the Great Plains West after the first of two the Cats and Willmar are playing on Thursday night at Port Arthur Stadium, both games shortened to seven innings.
The Cats took Game 1 by a 7-6 count.
Sheffield, who smacked his first home run on the team’s most recent road trip.
“That was a big confidence boost, getting that first one on the road,” the Chesterfield, Mo. native said.
“I hadn’t seen many fastballs all day and I knew at some point I was going to get one I couldn’t miss. I was excited I saw my pitch, I was able to get barrel to it and have some fun.”
Earlier in the game, after a sharp liner to third, Sheffield exited the field, muttering a word or two to his bat.
Whatever he said, worked.
“Sometimes you’ve got to give it a little pep talk,” Sheffield said, smiling.
“There are eight guys in front of you. You don’t want to hit it to any of them. You tell it stay on the barrel and get somewhere fun.”
The Border Cats, winners of four of their last five games to improve to 8-12 in the second half of the Northwoods League season, found trouble out of the chute, playing their first home game in 11 days, thanks in part to the all-star break.
Starter Ethan Froud retired the first batter he faced, but Carter Walsh answered back with a single, then immediately stole second and then scored on Max Buettenback’s single to right. Buttenback would later score on a Joey Craig sacrifice fly.
The Cats got one back in the second after back-to-back singles put runners on the corner. Newcomer Junior Lopez, playing his first game in Thunder Bay, launched a flyball that scored Jacob Miller from third, but with the bases loaded and one out, Willmar starter Hunter Possehl struck out Snead and got Kaiden Ashton to ground out to end the threat.
Jack Smith took over for Froud to start the fourth and didn’t fare well in his lone inning of work, the Stingers jumping all over him for three runs, Smith allowing four hits and a walk, one of the hits a leadoff homer by Colton Griffin.
Liam Bushey singled in two more runs before Smith settled down and closed out the frame.
Down 5-1, the Cats got one back in their half of the fourth, Lopez singling to right to once again score Miller. But Warrillow was gunned down by catcher Eli Duncan trying to take third and Possehl got out of trouble, inducing a double play with Snead at the dish.
Wall walked Matthew Pena to open his night on the mound, but a Bushey double play killed any momentum the Stingers might have gained in the sixth. He then struck out Duncan and Cody Nitowitz to open the seventh and got pinch hitter Sam Hunt to fly out to right to end the game.
“I felt good. I wasn’t thinking too much on the mound, just trying to get ahead and pound the zone and it worked out,” Wall said.
Possehl, who gave up six runs on eight hits over four innings, took the loss. Reliever Carson Priebe was credited with the win and Wall got the save.
