THUNDER BAY – If you’re going to go out, you might as well go out on top.
Jake Lankie can hold his head high.
The Willmar Stingers right-hander allowed just one hit over six innings of work, an infield grounder off the bat of Thunder Bay’s Kaiden Ashton that was mishandled by shortstop Griffin Colton the play ruled a hit by the hometown scorekeeper.
It could just have easily been an error and Willmar manager Nate Johnson might have been faced with a dilemma, whether or not to pull his starter with a no-hitter going.
Lankie, who struck out 13, left with a 2-0 lead, watched it evaporate in the seventh, and got redemption when the Stingers offence came to life again in the eighth.
They took the lead with a pair of runs, good for a 4-2 triumph that salvaged one of three games at Port Arthur Stadium this week for a Willmar team still hunting for a playoff spot in the Great Plains West.
“It was a great outing. I felt like I did a great job of controlling every count, even when I fell behind, being able to land the slow stuff for strikes and pitch guys away. Overall, I felt my defence played a very clean game,” said Lankie, a redshirt freshman at Georgia Tech.
“You put timely hitting on top of that and you’re due for a good one.”
It was Lankie’s final start in the Northwoods League and was easily his best one, earning the 6-foot-2 hurler his first win in five decisions.
In his last start he was roughed up for nine runs, and lasted just three innings.
“It felt great. That was my last one here in the ‘Woods, so it was a good way to go out, that’s for sure,” Lankie said.
The Stingers got a little help from the Border Cats defence in the fourth, after the two teams played three scoreless innings to open the contest, played in front of 1,108 fans at Port Arthur Stadium.
Sam Hunt and Liam Bushey opened with singles off of Thunder Bay starter Ethan Minaker, whose throwing error on a pick-off attempt at first allowed Hunt to score and sent Bushey flying around the bases, ultimately landing on third.
Matthew Pena, who walked, broke for second and got caught in a rundown, sacrificing an out on the basepaths to allow Joey Craig to dash home from third.
It remained 2-0 until there were two outs in the seventh and Liam Hohenstein on in relief for the Stingers.
Ayden Hadley drew a walk, Dylan Dnead singled and Duncan Key singled up the middle to plate Hadley, cutting the Willmar lead in half. Correy Morro followed with another RBI single, but with two on and two out, Hohenstein fanned Ashton to end the threat.
Reliever Peter Fusek, who took over in the fifth, held the Stingers (13-12) off the board for three innings, but couldn’t stop them in the eighth.
He walked Max Buettenback to open the frame, then surrendered a single to Hunt that landed Buettenback on third. He came home on a Bushey ground out and then, with two away, Joey Craig came through with an insurance run, singling to score Hunt.
The Border Cats loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but Wade Duncan was brought in to close things out and struck out Junior Lopez and Jeremy Sheffield, who had homered in each of his two previous outings, to end the game.
The Border Cats (9-13) will host Eau Claire (13-10) on Saturday night. Game time is 6:35 p.m.
