Double trouble

To say it’s been a trying season for Thunder Bay Border Cats manager Dan Holcomb might be the baseball understatement of the year.

It didn’t get any better on Wednesday night.

The Eau Claire Express put up double-digit runs in both halves of a Subway Field doubleheader to stretch the Cats late-season losing streak to eight games.

The Express (20-12), just a game back in the second-half South Division standings, rode a second-inning Tim Zier grand slam en route to a 10-1 win in the twin-bill opener.

Zier scored three times and drove in another run in Eau Claire’s 12-3 triumph in the nightcap.

“It’s definitely not the way you want the last week of the season to go, especially not to start the home-stand,” said manager Dan Holcomb, whose team has won just six of 31 second-half starts, planting them solidly in the Northwoods League North Division basement.

“We just want to get good starts out of our pitchers. If we can do that, limit the damage in the early innings, we’ll always give our hitters a chance.”

The two losses marked the 19th and 20th times this season the Cats have given up 10 or more runs. The club’s ERA has risen to 7.40 and the staff is allowing slightly fewer than two base-runners each inning, their WHIP standing at a collective 1.96.

In the opener it was Ryan Atwood who was hit hard, pounded for seven runs on six hits and four walks. In Game 2, Anthony Pastrana gave up five runs in the first inning, nine in total before leaving after the third.

Still, Holcomb is holding out hope the club can finish its season – which ends on Sunday against Alexandria – on a positive note.

“It’s definitely frustrating. It’s frustrating for the players and the coaching staff. Anytime you finish a season this way it’s not the way you want to go out. It’s not the way the fans want to see you go out. But the guys are still playing hard,” Holcomb said.

“We’re beating ground balls out, we’re breaking up double plays and guys are still diving in the outfield giving their all for the team and giving their all for the community. So when you see that, it’s definitely something that can pick you up and bring you a couple of wins before the end of the year.”

There were some positives that emerged from the dual losses.

Local double-sport star Carter McEachern, who played three games on a trial basis at the start of the season, collected his first two Northwoods League hits, one in each game.

His second hit plated Phillip Lyons in the fourth inning.

Outfielder Cory Kay went out with a bang too, breaking up the Express shutout bid in the seventh and final inning of the opener, a make-up of Tuesday’s rain-out. Kay is leaving the team early to get settled in at Missouri State, his new school.

Peter Hendron pitched six innings of three-hit, shutout ball to pick up the win in the opener. It was his first win in three decisions.

Taylor Lehnert went five innings in the second game, allowing two earned runs on four hits to collect his league-leading seventh win.

The Cats host the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Thursday.