EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. – Alex Dafoe was cruising along just nicely through five innings on Wednesday night.
He should have skipped the sixth.
The Thunder Bay Border Cats starter gave up five of the nine hits he allowed on the night in the sixth, which led to three Eau Claire Express runs and proved to be the difference in a 4-2 loss to close out the Northwoods League team’s latest road trip.
Nick Lopez broke open a 1-1 tie with a one-out sacrifice fly and Sam Kohnle and Cole Cabrera delivered two-out, run-scoring singles to give the Express a 4-1 lead and end Dafoe’s night.
After spotting Eau Claire an early 1-0 lead, the Cats evened the score in the fourth, Karsten Vasquez scoring on Conor Allard’s single off Express starter Matt Verdun, who departed with two outs in the fifth.
Down three in the eighth, Allard doubled to open the inning against Eau Claire reliever Ethan Swanson. Alexander Hernandez followed with an RBI single, but Swanson recovered to retire the next three batters in order, quelling the Thunder Bay threat.
Ryne Edmondson had a chance to tie the game in the ninth with one swing of the bat, Jake Engel drawing a two-out walk, but grounded out to second, ending the game, earning Nick Herold his second save of the 2019 campaign.
Dafoe took the loss, Thunder Bay's second straight defeat, dropping to 1-2.
Austin Eggleston tossed the final two innings for the Border Cats, holding the Express (12-12) scoreless on a single hit.
Thunder Bay (8-16) returns to Port Arthur Stadium on Thursday after a 3-3 road trip to take on the Mankato MoonDogs (11-13).
