The Lake Superior Cup is staying in Duluth for another season as the Huskies thumped rival Thunder Bay 17-4 at Wade Stadium on Thursday. The victory was Duluth’s fifth over their northern rival in as many tries this season.

Duluth sent 18 batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring 14 runs in the process. The first nine Huskies reached base safely before an out could be recorded, assisted by six walks and five errors. The Border Cats responded with three runs in the top of the second inning. Gunner Hellstrom delivered an RBI single and was brought in to score on Ben McConnell’s two-run base hit. Tony Monroy drew a walk to lead off the bottom half of the inning before John Lagattuta drove him in with a two-out single.

A leadoff walk led to a Thunder Bay run in the top of the third but the Border Cats could get no closer. Nick Sogard and Justin Mitchell led off the bottom of the fourth with a pair of walks and advanced into scoring position on a groundout. A wild pitch scored Sogard and Mitchell crossed home plate on an RBI double by Michael McCann. The two bullpens kept their opponents quiet for the remainder of the evening.

Mitchell, Trevin Esquerra and General McArthur all finished with multiple hits for the Huskies while Christian Jones collected three RBIs in his Northwoods League debut. Mitchell O’Connor was the winning pitcher, allowing four earned runs in five innings.

Duluth improves to 22-9 and maintains their lead in the North Division. The Huskies have now won four games in a row, outscoring opponents 43-12 during that stretch. The win was Duluth’s 12th at Wade Stadium this season, matching the team’s home win total from last season. Thunder Bay drops to 9-22 as their three-game winning streak comes to an end. The two teams close their two-game series Friday night at 6:35 pm.