THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay Border Cats may be the hottest club in the Northwoods League heading into the second half.
The Cats, buoyed by five first-inning hits – along with four Waterloo Bucks errors – built a 10-1 lead on Tuesday night at Port Arthur Stadium and withstood a five-run ninth-inning charge – to capture a 10-6 win, the team’s seventh in its last nine games.
Thunder Bay finished the opening half of the season at 13-23, half a game-out of eighth spot in the 10-team North Division.
But there’s plenty to like about the team’s chances moving forward, said outfielder Cam Pearcey, who had three hits in four trips to the plate, walked once, scored twice and drove in a run, his eighth RBI since joining the club late last month.
“We’re rolling on all cylinders. We’re clicking,” said the Florida native, who is hitting .326 with three doubles and eight stolen bases – including two on Tuesday night – in 46 at bats. “Like you said, 7-2 this last part of the first half and we couldn’t have more confidence as a team going into the second half. Things are good in the clubhouse right now.”
Catcher Brady Gulakowski, who singled home runs in the first and fourth in support of starter Connor Fabing, said the team made the most of its opportunities.
“I think early in the game a lot of pitchers are trying to establish the strike zone to establish it early. We were getting good pitches to hit and capitalized on that and jumped ahead of the other team. Once we start stringing a couple of hits together, that’s when momentum starts to begin. We were just rolling from there.”
The Bucks, the North Division first-half cellar dwellers, opened the scoring in the first, Trey Leonard crossing the plate on Tate Samuelson’s double-play ball.
The Border Cats sent eight batters to the plate in their half of the inning, Pearcey, Billy Cook and Gulakowski opening with three straight singles. With one out, Brandon Trammell and Mark Vierling, playing in his final game in a Border Cats uniform after Missouri coaching staff pulled the plug on his Thunder Bay stint, hit back-to-back run-scoring singles, aided by a pair of Dawnoven Smith errors in right that advanced runners 90 feet.
Cook drove in a pair with a single in the fourth and chased Waterloo starter Eric Reardon after Pearcey doubled home Sean Connahan to cap another three-run frame.
Manager Mitch Feller said the recent hot streak is showing what the team is made of and is a sign of things to come in the second half.
“Even during that losing spell we were in some tough ball games there and we finally came out of it and got the ball rolling toward the second half. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going and make a big push in the second half and try too get us a playoff bid,” Feller said.
While Pearcey has been a catalyst, Feller added it’s been a roster-wide effort responsible for the Cats recent success.
He singled out the pitching staff.
“A little bit better starts out of our pitching staff have definitely helped us,” said Feller.
Fabing went five innings of five-hit ball, walking three.
“We’re usually getting five innings every night and we’re able to turn it over to the bullpen,” Feller said.
Calvin Wood took over in the sixth and went 3.2 innings, finding trouble in the ninth when he loaded the bases with no outs.
The Bucks roughed Wood up in extra innings, Myles Emmerson driving in a pair to close the gap to 9-5 and bring the tying run into the on-deck circle before Jeff Deimling grounded out to end the threat.
The Cats hit the road on Wednesday, heading to Eau Claire to open a six-game road trip.
