Miller time

The Thunder Bay Border Cats modest one-game winning streak is over.

Lefty Nate Smith saw to that, pitching a gem for the Alexandria Beetles at Port Arthur Stadium on Tuesday night, allowing just four hits through seven innings, the driving force behind his team’s 7-0 whitewashing of the Cats.

Not that Thunder Bay’s Zak Miller, making his first start in seven appearances, was anything to complain about. Miller, in arguably his best outing after a disappointing start to 2011, went seven strong himself, allowing just five hits and a run.

Miller, who will start the rest of the way for the Cats, said he never found his comfort zone in the bullpen, and heading into his first year at Arizona State, the White Rock, B.C. native said he wanted to try something different.

“I just kind of wanted to stay fresh. I was struggling out of the bullpen and I asked if I could get a start to just get back to my comfort zone. Clearly from the first pitch I felt comfortable and everything was working,” said Miller, who struck out four and walked one.

It was a wasted effort, though as the bullpen collapsed in the eighth and ninth, surrendering six runs as the Beetles sent nine men to the plate in both innings.

“Tonight we kind of fell a bit short, but there are always positives to bring out of a game and we’ll move forward from here,” Miller said.

“It came down to walks. Not to toot my own horn, coming into the seventh inning we didn’t have any walks. All those six runs that scored on the last two innings were on walks. So that’s something we’re going to have to cut down on.”

Cats manager Mike Steed said there’s no doubt now the role Miller, who went undrafted by all 30 major league teams earlier this month, will play going forward.

“We’ve already decided that. I thought (the start) was going to be a positive for him. There’s always that little doubt, because he’s had some hard luck, but after tonight, that’s the spot he needed to be in. He started all year at school, and we were more looking at the number of innings he’s going to throw,” Steed said.

“But he’s so regimented with his six days off that I think this is a better spot for him.”

Unfortunately for Steed, Miller wasn’t able to complete this one. He might have stood a better chance of getting a victory had the youngster been able to go another couple of innings.

The wheels fell off the Cats wagon in the eighth, with Miller giving way to Alec Smith. Nick Gumm walked to start the Alexandria rally, then stole second and took third on a fly ball to centre off the bat of Ben Magsig.

After Chris Fritts struck out, Jeremy Boyd, the leading hitter in the Northwoods League, singled hard to centre, plating Gumm. Rick Devereaux followed with a walk, then Kevin Grove doubled deep to centre, allowing Boyd to score with the Beetles third run.

They weren’t done, though Smith was for the Cats.

Back to back walks by Reid Rooney, Thunder Bay’s third pitcher of the night, extended Alexandria’s lead to 4-0, before Bobby Martin, the ninth Beetle to come to bat, grounded to short to end the inning.

Thunder Bay’s best chance came in the fourth, when they loaded the bases with one out, trailing 1-0 at the time.

But Smith responded, striking out David Fallon and inducing a grounder to third from Ty Wosleger, the weak-hitting Cats top hitter this season.

Alexandria added three insurance runs in the ninth off Rooney, who only retired two batters, walking four and giving up two hits.

Steed said he’d like to see a lot better effort out of the bullpen from here on in.

“Our bullpen, straight up, we told them that was there responsibility tonight. We caved in in the last innings, and that’s not our strength. We’re a strong bullpen, and we didn’t show up tonight. Hopefully it’s an anomaly and it’s a one night thing,” Steed said.




Cat tracks: Outfielder Andrew Ruck has left the team for the season after injuring his wrist. The Whitby, Ont. native hit .143 in five games. He was replaced on the roster by catcher Kyle Mossbarger, who hit .154 in eight games with La Crosse ... Friday’s game against St. Cloud is an 11:05 a.m. start.  The team is offering free admission to its July 3 matinee against Duluth ... Only 443 fans showed up to watch.