THUNDER BAY -- In a low-scoring baseball game, a couple of timely hits can be the difference.
The South Division's Wisconsin Woodchucks got them on Monday night. The Thunder Bay Border Cats did not and went down to defeat 4-1 at Tbaytel Park, their lone run coming on a one-out, ninth inning Joe Gellenbeck drive that cleared the fence in right.
It was the only the second time a Border Cats runner advanced as far as third all night, Wisconsin starter Robert Zeigler (W, 3-2) getting the job done over a masterful seven innings, striking out nine while allowing just five hits and a pair of walks.
“Every time he pitches he just gets better and better,” said Wisconsin manager Dustin Coffman, his team clawing back to .500 at 3-3.
Thunder Bay skipper Danny Benedetti said he’s not sure why they couldn’t figure out Ziegler, a 6-foot-4 right-hander who red-shirted this past season at Kent State University.
“I didn’t think he was very overpowering. He wasn’t throwing hard, probably 88 miles an hour and that’s just about the norm here. I just don’t understand how we couldn’t put something together,” Benedetti said.
The second-year manger second-guessed just one at bat, the decision in the first inning not to have Shane Shepard bunt with two aboard and none out.
Instead, swinging away, the burly left-fielder popped up to the third baseman. Two fly-outs later and the threat was quashed.
“He was our three-hole hitter and you don’t really want your three-hole hitter bunting in that situation. Early in the game I wanted to let him swing and he got a fly ball there. To be honest, I think six of our first nine at bats in our first go-around were all fly outs,” Benedetti said.
“That’s not a good start right there.”
It was an unfortunate loss for Border Cats starter Jordan Thompson (L, 1-5), who matched Ziegler’s shutout string through five innings.
The Woodchucks finally managed to get to him in the sixth, Steele Walker singling with one out and Cole Daily following with a double to put runners on second and third.
Steve Passatempo lifted a fly-ball to shallow centre that was deep enough to score Walker with the game’s first run. Steve Mangrum doubled home Daily to make it 2-0 Woodchucks, Thompson exiting after the frame having allowed just five hits and a walk.
Anthony Paesano made quick work of the seventh, but struggled in the eighth, when Wisconsin put two more runs on the board thanks to a Passatempo double that plated Walker and Daily again.
Gellenbeck’s blast, his first of 2016, came against reliever Connor Brewster, brought in to mop up the ninth.
The Cats (3-3), who played in front of 543 fans, hit the road for six leading into the Northwoods League all-star break, starting Tuesday in Eau Claire. Their next home game is July 21 against the Rochester Honkers.
