THUNDER BAY – When tough times hit, sometimes the manager has to step in and find a way to motivate his troops.
For J.M. Kelly on Saturday night, it meant arguing a call a little too fervently for the umpire’s liking, leading to an ejection, the second straight night the Thunder Bay Border Cats skipper was tossed from a Northwoods League game.
His team, with just two wins in nine games, responded.
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning to the Duluth Huskies – dressed in the colour of the Duluth Dukes, the Cats rallied to score three runs, took a 5-4 lead and went on to down their opponent 8-4, snapping a four-game losing streak.
“I’m not going to lie, I think it kind of riled our guys up a little bit and got them going, hopefully. I know the crowd was into it tonight. It was really good on our guys’ part to come in and take care of business,” Kelly said.
The big hit came off the bat of Brayden Kuriger, a two-run single, a potential season-saving hit that keeps the Border Cats within a game of top spot in the Great Plains East Division, the La Crosse Loggers owning the top record at 13-9.
The damage was done with two outs and chased Huskies starter Myles Standish from the game.
After Cole Ketzner singled home Zane Skansi to cut the Duluth lead to 4-3, Kuriger stepped to the dish and sent a single to left, scoring Ketzner and Kyle Morrison, who reached on a one-out single.
“Coming up to the plate, I was looking to get the job done, try to score a run. It felt like we needed it at that point. On this losing streak right now, any big hit boosts the confidence of the team. I just tried to come up, do my job, and ran into a barrel there. I pushed it through the six-hole and scored some runs, so it felt good,” said Kuriger, a sophomore at Nicholls State University.
Looking for insurance, the Border Cats, wearing the colours of the former Thunder Bay WhiskeyJacks, got it in the eighth.
A single and an error put runners on first and second. Trey Fikes’s shot up the middle ricocheted off the glove of Duluth shortstop Jayden Duplantier, scoring Brody Chrisman from first. Then, with two outs, Skansi doubled to centre, plating two more.
Tyrus Riley, who took over in the eighth, threw two innings of no-hit ball, walking one, to close things out and pick up the save, his second of the season.
Thunder Bay starter Jack Pineau, who didn’t have his best stuff, according to Kelly, went five innings and improved to 2-0, giving up four runs on eight hits, including four opposition doubles.
The Cats spotted Pineau a 2-0 lead in the first. Morrison doubled home Ketzner with two outs and scored on an RBI single by Tucker Stockman.
The Huskies responded with three of their own in the second.
Cardell Thibodeaux doubled with the bases loaded to score two and Joe Vos followed with a two-bagger of his own, giving Duluth a 3-2 lead. They added one more in the third when Jayden Duplantier singled to score Charlie Sutherland.
Turner Spolarjic, son of former Toronto Blue Jay Paul Spolarjic, made his debut for the Cats in relief of Pineau and held the Huskies without a run over two innings of work.
It’s been a rough stretch, Kuriger said, but the team has never given up faith in themselves.
“All these losses, they’re all close games. It’s one play here or there, one swing here or there. We know we’re in every game. We still have a lot of confidence. We trust everyone on this team. We’ve just got to keep playing and eventually it’ll start going our way.”
Thunder Bay heads to La Crosse on Sunday to open a two-game set against the Loggers. Their next home game is Saturday against Rochester.
