THUNDER BAY – A sluggish start was too much to recover from Saturday for the rapidly sinking Thunder Bay Border Cats.
The Willmar Stingers torched Cats starter Drew Gooch for five runs in the first inning and went on to down their hosts 8-5 at Port Arthur Stadium, handing Thunder Bay its fourth straight loss, on the penultimate night of the Northwoods League season.
Duel threat Jayson Newman delivered the big blow, blasting a grand slam that cleared the bases, his eighth long-ball of 2018.
Gooch lasted all of one inning, giving up five runs on four hits and a walk to take the loss.
Chris Fousek and Tyler Moskalyk combined for eight innings of relief, the latter allowing just a single hit over three innings, but the damage had been done.
The Border Cats, who trailed 6-0 after giving up another run in the second, fought back with four in their half of the frame, Willie Bourbon smacking a bases-loaded triple to cut the score to 6-4.
But after Fousek gave up singles in the fourth and sixth, it was just too big of a deficit to come back from.
Thunder Bay (9-26, 22-49 overall), playing in front of 1,540 fans on hand for post-game fireworks, only managed to plate one more run the rest of the way, Bourbon coming home on a Ryan Tackett single in the seventh.
Nick Dentoni went six innings for the Stingers to earn the win, giving up four runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out eight.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Newman tossed a perfect ninth, striking out all three batters he faced, to pick up the save, his 10th.
The Cats and Stingers wrap up the 2018 campaign on Sunday afternoon at Port Arthur Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
