Border Cats double up Wisconsin to salvage series split

The Thunder Bay Border Cats can get all the good pitching they want.

If they don’t get some timely hitting, and soon, they’re going to struggle to win ballgames as they head toward the Northwoods League stretch.

That’s precisely what they got on Friday night out of leadoff hitter Jared James, who hit a run-scoring triple in the fifth inning and came home on an errant throw Connor Heady.

Then in the seventh, after the Woodchucks had pulled to within a run, James lifted a deep fly ball to centre to score Joe Gellenbeck, who opened the inning with a double to the deepest part of Tbaytel Park at Port Arthur Stadium, from third.

The Cats, steadied by six-plus strong innings from lefty starter Ryan Johnson, a Vanderbilt product making his Thunder Bay debut, went on to snap a two-game slide with a 4-2 win.

“That’s huge,” said James, the son of former major leaguer Dion James.

“As I told a reporter before that as a team, and with me specifically, I want to work on my situational hitting and today it felt great for us, especially taking care of our opportunities. Usually our games are pretty close and any opportunity we get, we’ve got to have it,” said James, limited to a DH role of late because of a lingering leg injury.

Border Cats manager Danny Benedetti said James has been successful this season because he sticks to his approach.

His 1-for-3 performance Friday gives him a .354 batting average in 32 appearances, second best in all the Northwoods League.

He’s a guy Benedetti slots into the leadoff spot and forgets about.

“He hunts fastballs,” Benedetti said. “And he can even hit a curveball or a change-up because his hands stay through the zone so long. He takes really aggressive hacks at the plate. He just squares balls up. It’s not easy to teach a kid what he’s doing on a consistent basis, hitting the ball as hard as he does.”

Wisconsin got to Johnson in the first, a lead-off double by Jared Oliva led to the game’s first run, an RBI ground-out by Yusuke Akitoshi doing the damage.

But after a Mason Fishback single in the second, Johnson settled in nicely, retiring 13 in a row before Tyler Black singled in the sixth.

“It felt good. The defence behind me played really good,” said Johnson, who gave up just five hits, striking out five and walking one. “It was my first start. I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes and let the defence work.”

Thunder Bay tied it up in the fourth on Tyler Green’s RBI single that scored Penn Murfee, the Vanderbilt connection coming through for the Border Cats.

Wisconsin, who got six innings of five-hit ball from starter Jared Skolnicki (L, 3-3) got one back in the seventh, Fishback scoring Connor Heady on a double that could have done even more damage had Albee Weiss not been tagged out trying to score from third on a wild pitch that hit the backstop and bounced quickly back to Thunder Bay catcher Dan Rizzie.

The two-base hit ended Johnson’s night.

Reliever Donnie Sellers, who has struggled most of the season, was perfect recording five straight outs, giving way to Greg Weissert, who struck out the side in the ninth to earn the save.

The Cats (4-6) travel to Willmar for a doubleheader on Saturday.

Attendance was 858.