The Thunder Bay Border Cats were an out away from a weekend sweep to close the 2013 Northwoods League season.
But offensive star Tyler Duplantis couldn’t handle a sharp shot down the first-base line in the bottom of the ninth and the Alexandria Blue Anchors used the lifeline to score the tying run and send the season finale to extra innings.
The visitors erupted for five runs in the 11th, and closed out the campaign with a 15-10 win that epitomized the Border Cats season – a lot of offence and a pitching staff that struggled to keep runs off the board.
All was not a loss for the Cats, who got a good look at potential returnees for 2014, including Thunder Bay’s own Carter McEachern and Chicago’s Adam Collins, who went deep for a second straight contest.
McEachern, who was 0-for-9 in an earlier stint with the team to start the season, compiled four hits in six at bats on Sunday, scoring twice and to finish with a .333 batting average.
“I can’t ask for anything more, 4-for-6 at the plate. We made it a close game at the end there, but we just couldn’t come up with the win,” said McEachern, a freshman at Texas’ Trinity University and former goaltender with the SIJHL’s Thunder Bay North Stars.
Not a bad early birthday celebration for the 18-year-old, who turns 19 on Monday.
Asked if he might like a full-time gig with the Cats next summer, McEachern gave an emphatic thumbs up to the idea.
“Yeah, if I get the opportunity here, I’d love to come back and play in front of the hometown crowd. It’s always a privilege to play in front of this support. I’d love to do it again next year.”
Manager Dan Holcomb, whose future with the team is up in the air after the team finished 8-27 in the second half and only won 21 times in 70 outings all season, said he liked what he saw from his only local player.
“Carter played absolutely great for us this week that he came back. Anytime you can get a local player it’s huge. Just looking at him from the beginning of the summer to the end of the summer, he has made tremendous strides,” Holcomb said.
“He’s a guy who has come from a hockey background and not played as many games as these guys … He came out and got six or seven or eight hits from the nine hole and really put the team on his back all week.”
Not even McEachern could create the offense the Cats needed on Sunday. Down 4-2, they rallied for five in the seventh, chasing Alexander starter Tyler Beck after Dylan Becker doubled to cut the lead to one. Replacement Dominic Reed got Duplantis to fly out, but with two outs Jason Vosler and Philip Lyons singled and Collins blasted the ball over the wall in left to make it 7-4 Thunder Bay.
But with Cameron Wood on the mound to start the eighth, the Blue Anchors struck back, scoring five of their own, Kris Goodman nailing a two-run double to put Alexandria in front 9-7.
Duplantis extended his single-season Border Cats RBI record to 58, part of a three-run eighth that put the Cats up by one headed to the ninth.
Derec Olson retired the first two batters of the ninth and appeared to have earned the save, but Dalton Leuschke’s shot to first got the better of Duplantis. Andrew Mulato and Curtis followed with singles, sending the game to extra innings when the Cats failed to score in the bottom half of the inning.
Cat tracks: The season-ending crowd at Subway Field was 1,006, giving them a 713 average for the season … Thunder Bay starter Anthony Pastrana allowed four runs in seven innings … Collins finished with three homeruns, five doubles and 11 RBI in 11 games … Lyons, who swiped a pair on Sunday, won the team stolen base crown with 23, one more than Becker, who only managed one … Thunder Bay finished with the worst ERA (7.33) in the league, more than double the average of the top three teams.
