Cats split

After putting up a stinker of a performance in the opener, the Thunder Bay Border Cats regrouped in the night-cap to earn a doubleheader split Friday with the visiting Waterloo Bucks.

Omar Cotto was the hero for the Cats in the second contest, belting a fifth-inning solo shot deep to right field, the homerun proving to be the difference in Thunder Bay’s 3-2 win. It helped erase the not-so-distant memories of a 9-0 thrashing they took in the opener.
“In my first at bats I felt like I was forcing it, doing too much,” said Cotto, who went deep for the first time this season and is now hitting .370 in 12 games after arriving in Thunder Bay from the University of Southern California.

“I had two fly balls, so for that at bat I went there just relaxed and wanted to hit the ball hard. I saw it in and just reacted and it went far. It felt good.”

He made a winner out of reliever Woody Nisbet, who took the pitching reins from starter Matt Cooper in the top of fifth and promptly surrendered the tying run to the Bucks, evening the game at 2-2.

Closer Jordan McCoy was called on early to shut down the Bucks, striking out Thomas Lindauer and Nico Zych with two on in the sixth and escaping some home-brewed trouble in the seventh and final inning after loading the bases with two outs.

“In this league it’s pretty much all about throwing strikes. You’ve got to come in there and my job is to lock it down. With the wood bats, you know you just throw it in there and if you throw it in there, you give your team a chance,” said McCoy, who picked up his fourth save of the season, striking out four in an inning and two-thirds.

Matt Cooper made his starting debut for the Cats in the night-cap, going four innings and allowing just a single run on four hits.

It was a far cry from the greeting the Bucks gave Thunder Bay starter Dan Ludwig in the first game, the twin-bill made necessary by a trio of rainouts earlier in the week.
 
Davis Hendrickson blasted a two-run shot off Ludwig in the third and Jordan Adams followed with a three-run bomb in the fourth as the Bucks raced out to an 8-0 lead through five. All runs charged to Ludwig, who was levied with his first loss of the campaign. Jordan Foley lasted into the sixth for the Bucks, giving up four hits and no runs, to improve to 4-0 in 2012.

Border Cats manager Andy Judkins said there wasn’t a lot he could say to his pitching staff after a lopsided loss like that, so he focused on his hitters, hoping the improved offence would inspire confidence on the mound.

It appeared to work.

“When we get down we don’t really respond well and that’s kind of what our talk was,” Cats manager Andy Judkins said. “They scored a run and then we came back with a run of our own in the second game. That’s good to see. It’s good to see they were able to respond like that just after we were talking about it.”

Cotto’s homerun swing was the icing on the cake.

“It was a good swing and it was funny because two at bats before he said, ‘What am I doing wrong, coach, what am I doing wrong?’ He flew out to left and I said, hey, you just missed it. It was a pitch up, you just missed it. The next time you get on top of it and you drive it for a double.

“He got on top of a pitch again and he drove it out of the park.”

The split leaves the Cats sitting at 11-12, seven games behind the streaking Mankato Moondogs, winners of eight straight.

The Bucks (16-7), fell two back in the race for top spot in the Northwoods League’s North Division.

The Cats and Bucks will be back at it again at Port Arthur Stadium on Saturday, playing another pair of seven-inning games to wrap up their five-game set.

Claw marks: Attendance was 815 for the doubleheader. The Cats are averaging 918 a game this season, up 97 a game over 2011.