Cats rally, but drop heart-breaker in Mankato

The Thunder Bay Border Cats clawed back from two runs down in the ninth, but couldn’t hang on.

Mankato’s Mikel Mucha scored on a Greg Weissert wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, propelling the host MoonDogs to a 7-6 triumph.

Matt Batten and Carter McEachern scored unearned runs in the top of the inning off Mankato reliever Chris Butcher.

The Cats trailed 3-0 after one, but tied things up in the third, Penn Murfee starting the ball rolling with a sacrifice fly that scored Batten.

McEachern then singled home two more runs to even the score, only to have Mankato score runs in the third, fourth and fifth off Border Cats starter Cole Stapler.

Weissert’s record fell to 2-3 with the loss, the Border Cats’ to 3-5 in second-half play. Butcher took the win. 

Thunder Bay returns to the friendly confines of Tbaytel Park at Port Arthur Stadium on Thursday, when they’ll take on the 2-5 Wisconsin Woodchucks in a rare South Division crossover match.