Nolan's three-run shot delivers come-from-behind win for Cats

Nate Nolan made his battery mate a happy man on Thursday night.

The Thunder Bay Border Cats catcher slammed a three-run blast into the trees beyond the left-field fence in the bottom of the eighth inning, handing his team a much-needed come-from-behind 5-3 win over the visiting Rochester Honkers at Tbaytel Park at Port Arthur Stadium.

The Cats and starter Kyle Von Ruden were trailing 3-1 at that point in the contest, to a team that the night before had moved into a tie for top spot in the Northwoods League North Division. 

Von Ruden, who came into the game with an 11.57 ERA, was efficient with his pitches all night long and went on to record a complete-game four-hitter.

“I just wanted to get a good pitch to hit,” said Nolan who leads Thunder Bay with four home runs and is now tied with Grant McKown for the team lead in RBI with 20.

“Earlier in the game I’d let a few fastballs get by that I felt I should have swung at. I was just looking at a fastball over the plate and luckily I got one.”

It was now or never, said the Reno, Nev.-born backstop, his team rapidly running out of outs. Not that he was putting undo pressure on himself to come through in the clutch.

“Honestly I just wanted to put the barrel on the ball because I knew there were guys behind me if I singled or got them over we still had two outs to work with.”

Honkers reliever Wayne Shackleford walked Eddie Posavec IV and Carter McEachern on four pitches apiece to set the stage for Nolan, before giving way to Ricky Delgado, who wound up taking the loss. 

Von Ruden, on the other hand, was stellar most of the night for the Border Cats, walking just three batters while striking out six in evening his record at 2-2.

“I just had command and had worked on some stuff in my bullpens,” said Von Ruden, who pitches for the University of Hawaii.

“I hit my spots later on and the coach was calling some good pitches later on in the game. But it was just a couple of rough outings (before). It’s baseball, they’re going to hit your around a little bit.” 

Still, it was a relief to see Nolan’s ball sail over the wall.

“It’s wonderful, man. They gave me the opportunity to get me the win – the whole team actually. Nate clutched up big time. That ball still probably hasn’t landed yet.”

Von Ruden only real trouble in the contest came in the third and fourth innings.

He gave up a run to get two outs in the third and two more in the fourth, Mark Contreras with an RBI single to give Rochester a 2-1. He would later score with the help of a pair of throwing errors, two of the three miscues the Cats would make on the night.

It could have been worse.

Cole Krzmarzick was gunned down trying to score on the after a throwing error by Cats right-fielder Joe Gellenbeck. Sam Hall was later caught in a rundown between home and third. 

Rochester starter Alex Evans gave up just one run on five hits in six innings of work.