THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Border Cats might want to retire the Whiskey Jacks purple once and for all -- they're 0-2 wearing the throwback jersey.
Donning the colours of the former Northern League team on Friday night, the Border Cats were chased up a tree by the Mankato Moondogs, falling 11-2 at Port Arthur Stadium and settled for a two-game split with the Northwoods League North Division front-runners.
It was a rough night all around for the Cats (5-8), who were thwarted in all facets of the game, said first-year manager Mitch Feller.
“All three aspects of the game, pitching, fielding and hitting, they pretty much were the better team on the field and it showed right away,” Feller said. “They put it on us the whole night.
“There’s not a whole lot to say. They were the better team tonight and we have to readjust for tomorrow’s game.”
The key is to not dwell on the result, said Feller, whose team on Saturday embarks on a six-game road trip that takes them to Waterloo, St. Cloud and Duluth.
“We’ve got to have a quick memory, think about this for the next two hours and as soon as they fall asleep tonight it should be completely forgotten. We’ll work on what we need to work on moving forward so games like these don’t happen consecutively or multiple times throughout the rest of the season.”
Border Cats hurler Connor Centala (0-2) was tabbed for the start and stood his ground through four innings, a Daniel Amaral single the only mark on his pitching card.
It all fell apart in the fifth.
After retiring Amaral to open the frame, Centala gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases. Ethan Valdez followed with a run-scoring single, Kenton Crews doubling home a pair immediately afterward to send Centala to the showers.
A Christopher Schaeffer sacrifice fly off reliever Cody O’Brien and a single by Ryan Kriedler rounded out the five-run fifth, the Moondogs taking a 6-0 advantage.
Jean-Francois Garon got one back for the home side in the bottom half of the inning, blasting a towering solo home run to left, his third of the campaign, off Mankato starter Brett Newberg (3-4). Newberg would last one more inning, giving way to the Moondogs bullpen to start the seventh.
Up 7-1, Austin Hansen retired the Border Cats in order in the seventh and again in the eighth, ceding the mound to Addison Reed.
The Moondogs (10-4) added insult to injury in the ninth, piling on four more runs, all off Border Cats reliever Alan Hurd. He gave up four hits and walked one, first-baseman Noah Strohl taking over with one out in the ninth to record the final two outs, the first a a sacrifice fly off the bat of Zac Wiley.
Thunder Bay did end on an offensive high note, Braden Mosley plating the final run of the night, singling home catcher Dayne Sommer before Garon struck out to end the contest.
