Duluth, Minn – The Duluth Huskies (15-16) knocked off the Thunder Bay Border Cats (14-16) in a back-and-forth affair on Thursday night. Duluth earned their first series victory after 12 series splits and twice being swept, pushing their win streak to a season high 4 games. Thunder Bay fell to just 2-12 away from home and lost their third straight.
It was a see-saw start to the ballgame. Parker Thomas and Vincent Segovia got the starts for Duluth and Thunder Bay respectively. Thomas allowed the Border Cats on the board with an Alex Kean RBI double in the top of the first, but Duluth responded with a two run homer from Dax Hardcastle in the bottom. The Cats countered with two runs of their own thanks to RBI singles from Jesus Vasquez and Manny Alberto to grab the lead back at 3-2 after two frames. Thomas didn’t make it out of the third inning, as three more runs chased him and brought in Luke Holcomb to relieve with the score 5-2. Holcomb allowed an inherited runner to score before a perfect relay throw from Hardcastle to Waylon Walsh ended the inning at 6-2. In the bottom half, Hardcastle launched his second homer of the day, another two run jack with Jalen Smith on base to cut the lead to two.
The fourth and fifth flew by in the blink of an eye, with Holcomb needing 17 pitches to get six outs between the two innings, and Segovia needing only 15 to post matching zeroes and keep the score at 6-4 through 5. Holcomb nailed down the top of the sixth by working around a one out Manny Alberto triple with back to back come-backer groundouts.
The bottom of the sixth flipped the script on the game. Segovia returned to the mound and was promptly greeted by a Jalen Smith long ball. Segovia then issued three consecutive walks before being removed in favor of Reid Leonard. Leonard, making his third consecutive outing against Duluth, gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Isaiah Ibarra but got to two outs before giving up a Manny Dorantes two run single that gave the Huskies an 8-6 lead, their first since the initial inning.
Duluth closer Pierce Anderson was called upon with two on and no outs in the bottom of the eighth and a three run lead thanks to an Anthony Cepeda single. Anderson struck out the side in order to keep the score the same and finished off the save with three more strikeouts despite loading the bases in the ninth.
Luke Holcomb earned the win for 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out one. Vincent Segovia took the loss for eight earned runs in five plus innings. He entered the night with three earned runs allowed on the year and a 1.93 ERA. Pierce Anderson picked up his fifth save of the year, tied for second in the Northwoods League.
Dax Hardcastle was the offensive star, finishing 3-for-3 with two homers, four RBI and four runs scored. Jalen Smith went 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs as well. For Thunder Bay, Alberto showed well in the loss with a 2-for-4 day, posting a triple, a run and an RBI as well as a stolen base. Alex Kean racked up two RBI doubles en route to a 2-for-5 day. Vazques, Ayden Hadley and Dylan Snead all reached three times but the Border Cats stranded 12 runners across the game.
On Deck
Duluth hosts Waterloo for the first time this season and the second meeting between the two teams on Friday and Saturday before finishing their first half schedule with a return trip to Thunder Bay for two games. Tickets are on sale for Duluth home games on the team website, and all Huskies action can be watched on FloSports.