Strong finish

Chris Kerwood came through in the crunch.

Normally a starter for the Thunder Bay Border Cats, on Sunday Kerwood was forced into a relief role after fellow starter Caleb Smith was rocked for five runs in two innings, ending his afternoon prematurely.

All Kerwood did was hold the visiting Alexandria Blue Anchors at bay for seven innings, allowing just two runs, but more importantly, gave his teammates a chance to get their bats heated up.

And that they did.

Cory Kay, the Cats leading hitter, went 4-for-5 with three driven in to pace the hometown favourites to a 10-7 win, snapping a four-game losing slide in the process.

“No doubt about it, (Alexandria is) a good hitting team,” said Kerwood, who picked up the victory to improve to 3-1.

“They came out early, put up a few runs. But the way our offence has been playing lately, or even this entire season, I had no doubt if I just held them that they were going to score enough runs for me to win.”

Eliminated from first-half contention earlier in the week, the Cats are all about building momentum for a second-half crown they hope to contend for, starting on Thursday.

“I think it’s a great sign for things to come. We’ve got a lot of guys coming in, some good guys coming in. We’re a little low on pitching right now, so that’s why I think we’ve been struggling how we have been. But I have no doubt in my mind we’re going to come out in the second half and have a really good showing,” said Kerwood, who pitched in front of 651 fans on Sunday at Subway Field.

Kay, who singled and scored in the first on a Philip Lyons hit, plated Dylan Goodwin and Joey Hawkins with a single of his own in a five-run second that gave Thunder Bay an early 6-5 advantage, a quick response to a four-run Alexandria second.

“We’ve been having offence every game. We’re going to score runs. We can swing the bat,” said Kay, who will play at Missouri State this fall.

“When you look at the stats in the league, we’re at the top. Kerwood came in and just absolutely shut it down, which is what we needed, which is what we haven’t had all season. He came in and did an awesome job. And that’s all you’ve got to do with our team. We’re going to score runs.”

The second-year Kay who is hitting a team-best .347 after his performance against the Blue Anchors, was a little less enthusiastic about the job he did.

“I got lucky a couple of times, kind of got jammed and hit little seeing-eye balls that got through. But I’ve been seeing the ball well of late. I like to be up in big situations,” he said.

Kay, Goodwin, Tyler Stetson and newcomer Kyle Hann, making his Border Cats debut, all scored twice for the winning side, who erased a 7-6 deficit in the fifth with a three-run effort, Kay singling once again to score Goodwin.

Kerwood gave up nine hits and two runs while striking out five. Alexandria starter Tyler Beck was tagged with six runs in two innings, but the loss went to reliever Taylor Simpson, who gave up five hits and three runs in 2.2 innings of work.

Claw marks: Monday’s Canada Day finale to the three-game set is slated for a 1:35 p.m. start. The team will hold a jersey auction in support of Special Olympics.