Shutout gem

Clint Knoblauch delivered a Canada Day special on Monday for the Thunder Bay Border Cats.

The right-hander was all but unhittable against the visiting Alexandria Blue Anchors at Subway Field, tossing a five-hit, one-walk, eight-strikeout complete-game 5-0 shutout, striking out the side in the ninth inning to cap his 94-pitch masterpiece.

“Everything felt good. It felt real good, actually. My arm felt good and it was amazing to go out there and put up nine zeroes on Canada Day,” said Knoblauch, who had yet to pitch into the eighth inning in five previous starts.

“I just threw quality strikes and got people out, ended up getting the W.”

Knoblauch said his early success helped convince he could go the distance, only facing two batters more than the minimum through four innings.

“Yeah, it did build my confidence up a lot. But as it got on, I just kept rolling, using what I had and just got batters out.”

Manager Dan Holcomb deemed it one of the best pitching performances in the Northwoods League this season.

“Ninety-four pitches over nine innings, that’s being about as efficient as you can be. And Clint’s not a guy who throws really hard. But he’s made a lot of adjustments all year, worked his butt off every single time, worked his butt off and this is the fruits of his labour here,” Holcomb said.

“Hopefully he can go out and do this all year.”

The Cats, dressed in Team Canada jerseys auctioned off to support Special Olympics, were also helped out by a pair of Canadians, Joey Hawkins and newcomer Kyle Hann, two players who grew up as teammates in southern Ontario.

Hawkins, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI, said it felt good to perform on Canada’s 146th birthday.

“It was good, just to hear the crowd getting excited and to have Canadians play up here in Thunder Bay makes it even better for the fans,” he said.

Hann, who walked twice, singled and doubled in four trips to the plate, looked at things a little more methodically.

“I kind of just hit the ball hard, hit it where it was pitched,” Hann said.

The Cats took it to Alexandria starter Corey Fitzgerald in the second, Hawkins doubling home Philip Lyons with the game’s first run.
They added three more in the third on back-to-back-to-back singles by Hann, Jacob Rogers and Hawkins, taking a 4-0 lead.

Knoblauch faced a first-and-third two-out jam in the fifth and a runner on third in the sixth, but got stronger as the game went on, facing just nine batters over the final three innings to record his second win of the campaign.

Rogers added another RBI in the seventh, ending Fitzgerald’s night.

The Cats (13-20), winners of two straight, wrap up first-half play in Alexandria, where they’ll play a pair on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Claw marks: Northwoods League president Dick Radatz Jr. was in attendance at the game … Attendance was 1,009 … The five-through-eight hitters combined to go 8-for-14 with five RBI, three walks and three runs scored for Thunder Bay … It was just the seventh complete game in the Northwoods League this season and only the third complete-game shutout ... The Cats added twin brothers Antoney and Steven Pastrana to their pitching staff. The Queens, N.Y, right-handers both pitch at New York's Dominican College.