The Thunder Bay Border Cats kept their slim playoff hopes alive on Wednesday night, thanks to a 13-3 home-field shellacking of the visiting Duluth Huskies.
Jerrick Suiter homered and drove in four runs, while Cory Kay slammed his fourth long-ball of the season, leading Thunder Bay to the one-sided win, their second in a row.
Andrew Ayers had three hits and a pair of runs scored, Brett Kay crossed the plate three times to earn the win for reliever Chad Richie, who took over from Zak Miller with two outs in the fifth.
Richie allowed just one hit in 2.1 innings of work, as the Cats scored four in the second and five in the third to erase an early 3-0 Duluth lead. Joey Webb took the loss for the visitors.
With four games left on their schedule, the Cats are four games behind first-place Willmar and have four fewer wins that second place St. Cloud. A win by either team would mathematically eliminate the Cats. St. Cloud has won its last seven games to pull into contention in the Northwoods League's North Division.
Weather permitting, the Cats and Huskies will play game two of their three-game set Thursday night at Port Arthur Stadium.
Game time is 7:05 p.m.
