Huskies spoil Cats return to Subway Field

Jake Heissler wasn’t perfect Thursday night.

But the Duluth Huskies right-hander came darn close, allowing just one hit and three walks in a rain-shortened, five-inning complete-game gem at the expense of the hometown Thunder Bay Border Cats, propelling his team to a 5-1 win.

Philip Lyons, who blasted a shot over the right-field wall with two outs in the fifth inning, was the lone Cats player to get into the hit column, spoiling Heissler’s bid for a no-hitter.

It was Lyons’ first homerun of his two-year Border Cats career.

Dan Holcomb, Thunder Bay’s first-year manager, said it was tough going against Heissler (5-2), on a night when both teams were just waiting for the rain to start falling, knowing they had to score early to secure the win.

“He did a great job. He threw strikes and threw his breaking ball for strikes as well. Anytime you fill the zone up like that, especially on a wet night like tonight, they’re going to make it tough on us. The ball really wasn’t travelling well,” said Holcomb, whose team lost for the eighth time in nine games, their first contest back at Subway Field in nearly two weeks.

Heissler, who threw 75 pitches, 43 for strikes, said it was almost as easy as it looked.

“It was a nice game. I had my defence working behind me and I was able to spot my pitches well from the get-go. The weather was kind of an issue, but I tried to not let it get to me,” he said.

Still, Heissler said he’d love to have that last pitch to Lyons back.

“You give up one hit, it turns out to be a homerun. It kind of sucks , but we’ll take the win gladly.”

Huskies 2B Conor Szczerba and centre-fielder Michael Suiter paced the Huskies offensive attack against Border Cats starter Jordan Church, who at 0-5 is still in search of his first win of the season.

Szczerba and Suiter drove in a pair of runs apiece, the latter breaking open a 2-0 lead in the fifth with a two-run double that landed at the wall in right.

The win also put the Huskies in the driver’s seat for the second Northwoods League North Division playoffs spot, a half-a-game up on the Willmar Stingers, who fell 13-4 to Rochester. The Huskies who finished third in the first half, improved to 12-7 in the second half, four games behind first-half champion Waterloo.

If the Bucks win the second half too, the second-half playoff team will the club with the best overall record. Duluth stands at 32-22.
“We’re just trying to have as much fun as possible, just come out here every day with that fire and just try to win as many games as we can,” Heissler said.

The two teams will play the second game of their three-game series Friday night at Subway Field.

Claw marks: Attendance was 789, despite the rain … At 17-37 overall, the Border Cats have the worst record in the entire Northwoods League … The game was called after a 45-minute delay and the Cats scheduled to bat in the bottom of the sixth.