ROCHESTER – The Thunder Bay Border Cats are on a roll.
The Northwoods League team scored a pair of runs in the ninth inning on Monday night to erase a 2-1 Rochester Honkers lead, and held on to edge their opponent 3-2, taking their third straight win to close out a four-game series at Mayo Field.
The heroics came with two aboard and two outs and once again, it was captain Trey Fikes providing the fireworks.
The veteran catcher, who faced an 0-2 count and fouled off two straight pitches to stay alive, singled to right, scoring Dylan Snead and Corey Morro, who one batter earlier had executed a successful double steal that put both runners in scoring position.
Fikes, in his second season with the Border Cats, is hitting .295 in 2025, with four doubles and 13 RBI.
The win helped the Cats pull one game closer to the first-place Duluth Huskies, improving to 7-11 in second-half play.
Ethan Minaker got the start for Thunder Bay and lasted five innings, allowing no runs on just two hits and two walks.
Rylan Newman followed and gave up an unearned run in 2.1 innings of work and John McDonald earned the win in relief, giving up one run on two hits while recording the game’s final five outs for Thunder Bay.
Thunder Bay’s only other run of the night, was unearned, Caleb Watkins scoring on an error by Rochester third baseman Miles Ghossein, his second of the second inning.
It was an error by Border Cats third baseman Jeremy Sheffield that set the stage for Rochester’s dramatics in the eighth.
Down 1-0, Keegan Landis reached on the one-out miscue, ending Newman’s night.
McDonald took over and promptly struck out Jake Jackson for the second out of the eighth, but a Josh Outlaw RBI singled tied things up and then another error, this time by shortstop Junior Lopez, allowed Outlaw to steal another run, giving the Honkers a 2-1 lead.
Max Binnicker got the start for the Honkers (6-13) and lasted one inning, allowing two hits and a walk.
Patrick Fernandez took over and gave up one run on two hits over four innings.
Isaiah Brennan was on the mound in the ninth, when the Cats clawed their way back in front for good. Brennan gave up two runs on four hits and a walk, striking out one.
The Border Cats head to Mankato to take on the MoonDogs (11-7) and return home on Thursday for a doubleheader against Willmar (12-8).
