THUNDER BAY – A five-error Father’s Day brought another loss down on the Thunder Bay Border Cats and their faithful fans.
The top-ranked Wausau Woodchuck, who spotted their opponent a 2-0 lead on Sunday at Port Arthur Stadium, scored eight straight over the next five innings to turn the game into a no-doubter, and went on to defeat the Border Cats 9-3.
It was Thunder Bay’s fifth loss in six outings, the game played in front of an enthusiastic 2,617 fans.
Lucas Terilli and Zane Skansi, who reached on an error, scored first-inning runs for Thunder Bay in support of starter Cole Poirrier, who managed to get out of a first-inning jam.
That success didn’t stick around long.
Wausau (17-3) tied the game in the third.
Jake Berkland led off with a single and scored on Isaac Webb’s single to centre.
Webb quickly found himself on third and came home on Brayden Smith’s sacrifice fly.
Berkland delivered the lead for good in the third with a sacrifice fly of his own. Smith then singled him in to make it 4-2.
Reliever Garfield Johns got through the fifth unscathed, but the wheels fell off in the sixth and he left with two outs and two on, replaced by Griffin Catto.
Karn Durnin needed one pitch to deposit the ball over the left-field fence, the three-run shot giving Wausau an insurmountable 8-2 lead.
Duncan Mathews doubled in the bottom of the sixth, plating Ty Brooks, but it was too little, too late at that point.
Edwin Alicea (3-0) earned the win on the mound for the Woodchucks, allowing two runs, just one of them earned, on four hits and a walk. He struck out five.
Poirrier, who gave up four runs in four innings, was tagged with the loss. Trevor Baugh came on to finish things off for Thunder Bay, tossing a scoreless inning-and-two-thirds.
Thunder Bay has now made 33 errors, including 15 in their past six games.
The Border Cats (11-7) have Monday off and return on Tuesday to face Waterloo for the first of four straight at Port Arthur Stadium against the second-place Bucks (10-8), who trail Thunder Bay just one game in the standings.
