The Thunder Bay Border Cats hit their way to victory in their 10th home opener Monday at the Port Arthur Stadium.
After falling to the Alexandria Beetles on the road, the Cats (2-4) outhit their opponents 14-9 to take home a 7-3 win in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
“It was exciting. It was a lot of fun,” said Cats manager Andy Judkins. “The guys went out and played hard tonight. We came out with a victory. We had good starting pitching, good hitting and put it all together and won a game.”
Starting pitcher Coley Bruns got off to a rough start with the Beetles up by two runs halfway through the third inning. But he eventually found his groove, picking up nine strikeouts during six innings.
The Cats earned their first run in the bottom of the third with centrefielder James Bonds scoring off of a single from DH Matt Jones.
The Cats claimed another two runs in the fourth with 3B Tony Viger hitting a single that sent catcher Corey Kay across home plate before a wild pitch from the Beetles’ hurler Alex Guilford allowed right fielder Brian Kraft to score.
The Beetles started an action-packed seventh inning as shortstop Josh Carpenter earned an RBI with leftfielder Erik Nockleby scoring off his bat, tying the game at 3-3.
But the Cats answered back with a roar in the seventh, scoring four runs. Shortstop Brett Kay scored off of a single from 1B Ryan Casillas, which was quickly followed by a double from leftfielder Scott Donley that sent Jones home.
Then Kraft doubled, sending Casillas and Donley across home plate bringing the final score to 7-3.
While he didn’t earn the win, Bruns was happy with his performance on the mound.
“It was definitely an improvement from last week, just trying to get on top of the pitches a little more and go deep in the ballgame and give our team a better chance of winning,” he said.
His strategy going into the game was to limit the walks and just try to throw the ball over the plate.
And playing in front of the home crowd was a big help.
“It was fun pitching in front of a big crowd and not have them all cheering against you,” he said.
The ballpark’s attendance Monday was 1,205 and Judkins said playing at home always helps.
“It makes the setting for the guys more comfortable,” he said. “The ball didn’t bounce our way on the road and now it did when we were at home. The outcome was what we wanted to do.”
The Cats are still 18 players short of a full roster and Judkins says he doesn’t know when the rest of the players will arrive.
He needs more arm power to arrive as fast as possible.
“I am hoping the Belmont (University) kids – Dan Ludwig and James Buckelow – meet us on the road in Mankato, but you never know,” he said. “We’ll see how fast they can get here.”
The Border Cats face the Beetles again Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. at the Port Arthur Stadium.
