Duluth, Minn. – The Duluth Huskies and Thunder Bay Border Cats each took a game of a doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon at Wade Stadium. After Monday’s game was paused half an inning in due to persistent lightning in the area, play resumed at 3:05 with the Border Cats leading 1-0. The Huskies walked off Thunder Bay 5-4 in a nine inning affair, and after an hour-long pause, the two teams met for a shortened seven inning game, which the Border Cats took by shutout.
Game one featured dominant relief pitching on both sides. After Parker Kristall started and worked one inning for Duluth on Monday night, Anthony Andrews took over when play resumed on Tuesday afternoon. Andrews tossed his best outing of his three year Northwoods career and the best appearance for any Huskies pitcher all season. The right hander worked seven innings, allowing three hits and one run while striking out 10.
On the other side, Vincent Segovia was scratched without throwing a pitch because of the delay, with Carson Small taking over. Small was ineffective through three innings, allowing four runs. Reid Leonard came on in relief and dominated, tossing 5.1 innings, allowing just one run and striking out six. He kept the game tight long enough for Thunder Bay to tie it up in the top of the ninth, before conceding the game’s winning run, if not the winning swing.
The Huskies offense picked up four runs between the second and third innings thanks to some big swings from power bats. Jalen Smith picked up his team-high seventh double of the campaign in the second, moving Blake Eckerle to third before he scored on an Anthony Cepeda RBI. Cepeda was also one of five Huskies hits in the third, which included a Gabe Jones double and RBI singles from newcomer Jack Haferkamp, Bjorn Lind and Cepeda to wrap things up. The Border Cats picked up a run on a trio of walks in the first, and scored again in the seventh thanks to a Dylan Snead double and a Manny Alberto single.
In the ninth, Duluth closer Pierce Anderson came on for his fourth save but could not hold the door closed. Anderson allowed a hit by pitch and a walk to muddy up the bases before getting the next two outs. However, with two down and runners on second and third, Alberto delivered a game-tying single into left field.
In the bottom of the ninth, Haferkamp led things off with a single and Lind followed with one out. The two executed a double steal and Eckerle hit a sacrifice fly to push Haferkamp home for Duluth’s second walk-off win in five days. Eckerle was the offensive star of the show, going 2-for-2 with a double, two walks, a run scored and the walk-off sacrifice fly for his lone RBI.
Game two got underway at 7:05 in shortened seven inning fashion. Only one of the fourteen half innings featured runs as the pitching was excellent for the second game of the day. Anthony Unga starred for Thunder Bay, tossing six scoreless innings and allowing three hits and four walks while striking out eight. Alex Uher conceded a hit but earned his first save of the season in the seventh.
Luke Holcomb made his second Duluth start and was solid, working three scoreless innings before the Border Cats jumped on him in the fourth. Holcomb allowed a one out walk before catcher Colin Fisher took Holcomb deep to center field. After picking up a second out, he allowed back to back hits, the second of which was an RBI double from Manny Alberto, who finished the long day with four hits and four RBI. Ben Llewellyn was excellent in relief, tossing three hitless innings and allowing just one walk, but the Huskies offense couldn’t muster anything.
Duluth loaded the bases in both the second and sixth innings, but Unga struck out two batters to hold the Huskies scoreless in each frame. Haferkamp had two of the four Duluth hits, both doubles, to finish his debut day 4-for-9 with two runs and an RBI. Alberto had two of the four hits for Thunder Bay and Colin Fisher’s two-run homer remained the difference from the fourth inning on.
The Huskies moved from 8-12 to 9-13, while Thunder Bay stayed a game ahead as the teams briefly evened at 9-12 before the Border Cats picked up their 10th win of the season. Both teams remain chasing La Crosse, who extended their division lead with a big win over Eau Claire.
On Deck
Duluth hosts the Minnesota Mud Puppies in a split doubleheader tomorrow, which will mark four games in two days. Both games will be nine innings, with first pitch of the opener at 12:05 and the later game scheduled for 6:35. The Huskies will then play a commuter series against Eau Claire, with Thursday’s game taking place at Wade Stadium and Friday’s occurring in Wisconsin. The Huskies will then see this same Border Cats team four times after that, with the first two coming in Canada followed immediately by home games on Monday and Tuesday against the Border Cats. Tickets are on sale for all Huskies home games, and all game action for both home and road games can be found on FloSports.