THUNDER BAY – Every time the Thunder Bay Border Cats seem like they’ve hit rock bottom they manage to find another level.
Already winless through the first 13 games of the Northwoods League campaign, the Border Cats squandered a late lead to fall 6-2 to the Eau Claire Express at Tbaytel Park at Port Arthur Stadium on Monday night.
The 14 straight losses continues the league-record worst start to a season and puts the Border Cats just one defeat away from equaling the dubious franchise and circuit mark for longest losing streak.
“As a coach you always take the loss. With 14 losses now, these are all mine. The players take the wins and we don’t have any of those yet and it’s my fault at this point,” manager Danny Benedetti said.
“I need to figure some things out, especially with our bullpen and starting pitching…At the end of the day it is what it is. We just keep working a little better each day and keeping the games close.”
The home side gave the crowd some hope they would finally break out after entering the eighth inning with a narrow 2-1 lead.
After a leadoff walk surrendered by Thunder Bay reliever Seth Gill, the Express capitalized on a dropped third strike against Cody Bohanek, putting two runners on base with nobody out. A walk to Michael Hicks juiced the bags, though the Border Cats appeared poised to pull an escape act after Cal Klipstein-Smith grounded into a fielder’s choice with the out at home.
However Eau Claire didn’t let the opportunity get away, with Ripken Reyes stepping up to the plate and finding space in the defence for a two-run single to take the lead.
That ended the night for Gill, who ultimately took the loss, with Marcus Failing attempting to come in and stop the bleeding.
The Express added three more in the frame, courtesy of a Sam Hurt run-scoring single, Tyler Jones sacrifice fly and bases loaded walk to Rudy Rott.
“You’ve got to stay positive, especially when you have 14 losses. I’ve never seen anything like this in the league. Usually you can scratch together one or two here and there,” Benedetti said.
“One bad inning. One bad inning and we were right there.”
Thunder Bay had taken the lead in the seventh with a creative but gutsy call that paid off when Andy Weber dropped a two-out, run-scoring bunt single down the first baseline.
The late innings collapse wasted a stellar performance by starter Gunnar Kay, who had only conceded one run when he was pulled after recording the first out in the seventh.
Kay finished the outing with five strikeouts, allowing seven hits and two walks, en route to the no decision after getting into a little bit of trouble and allowing his lone run in the first inning.
“It’s about time I had a good start up here,” Kay said. “I thought my off speed was working today and big-time defence behind me…Definitely just keeping guys off balance.”
The club is getting boosted by the arrival of hyped offseason recruits as their collegiate seasons wind down. In the last few days, Weber, Shane Shepard, Robert Boselli and Joe Gellenbeck have all arrived in Thunder Bay.
Those incoming players will help erase a talent deficit the team has faced through the first two-plus weeks of the season. The Border Cats have not only struggled to score, sporting the league’s lowest hits and runs totals, but have had difficulty keeping them on the board, owning the highest amount of runs and hits against.
“You have a lot of temporary contract guys in here and at the end of the day you have to make decisions. I love every one of these kids, they all want to be here and want to try but competition wise I don’t know if some of them can handle it,” Benedetti said.
One positive for the Border Cats is how the league is structured with two halves to the season, meaning the club gets to push the reset button in less than a month.
Not so fast, said Benedetti to people already writing the team off.
“These guys are all winners. At some point, we need the fans to continually stay with this, because at the end of the day they’ve seen what we’ve done here. In 2008 we won. I mean, for God’s sakes we won the whole thing and this team is similar to this,” Benedetti said.
“I experienced it. I got to be with those guys. We were really bad early. In 2008 we were awful. And then at the end of the season something clicked.”
The Border Cats welcome the St. Cloud Rox (8-6) to Thunder Bay for a two-game series starting on Tuesday.
