DULUTH, Minn. – The Duluth Huskies (29-40, 13-21) beat the Thunder Bay Border Cats (26-41, 10-23) 10-5 to clinch the Superior Cup for the first time since 2023. In the 19th rendition of the Border Battle, the Huskies clinched the Cup with a game to spare to move to 10-9 all time in Superior Cup history.
Thunder Bay came down the highway depleted, traveling just thirteen active players. Their only pitcher available for the game was starter John Hood. When Hood was chased thanks to a 35-pitch limit in the first inning, Thunder Bay had to turn to position players to toss seven innings.
Duluth got out to a 1-0 lead in the first, leaving the bases loaded but doing their job of forcing Hood out of the game. In the second, Wyatt Pennington hit a two-run homer to left, and Manny Dorantes added his first homer of the season in the third, also in two-run fashion.
Despite the 5-0 deficit, Thunder Bay continued to fight. Ayden Hadley, the catcher-turned-pitcher for the night, posted back to back goose eggs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the top of the sixth, the Border Cats scored three against Duluth reliever Jude Sundquist to keep the game within reach. The teams traded runs for the next two innings, culminating in a 7-4 score heading into the bottom of the eighth. The Huskies hit two fly balls to center, and two tough plays were unable to be made by Bennett Crafton, the Border Cats center fielder, who felt the pill bounce off his glove twice en route to an Isaiah Ibarra double and Kayden Campbell triple to launch Duluth to 10 runs and put the game to bed.
Thunder Bay couldn’t mount any offense against Huskies hurler Cole McCombs. McCombs tossed five scoreless frames, walking four but allowing just one base hit and striking out a pair. After a three-run sixth thanks to four Sundquist walks surrounding a Jimmy Pelletier hit, the Border Cats plated a run in the seventh and the ninth but came up well short.
Pennington was the offensive star for Duluth, posting four hits including a homer, three RBI and two runs. Campbell had two triples to bring his season total to a league-high-tying four. Dorantes had two hits including his first home run and Ibarra tallied a pair of knocks and runs as well.
Thunder Bay had plenty of action on the bases, stranding nine, but racked up just four hits. Jesus Vasquez had a triple for the lone extra base hit, scoring a run in the seventh before pitching the eighth. Hadley tossed six innings in relief as a position player, allowing nine hits and six runs but walking just one and striking out two.
With the win, the Huskies clinched the Superior Cup with one game to go by virtue of a 7-4 lead in the season series. It’s the first time since 2023 that the Huskies have held the Cup, although they’ve won 10 of the last 13 iterations. The Border Cats won the first six beginning in 2005. Duluth won every Border Battle from 2011-2019 with the exception of 2014. After a three-year COVID-related hiatus (Canadian laws were stricter and didn’t allow Thunder Bay to participate in the league), Duluth won their sixth consecutive and ninth overall Cup in 2023. Thunder Bay got back on track with Cup wins in 2024 and 2025, despite Duluth being the better team and qualifying for the NWL playoffs both years. It’s the third time that Duluth field manager Marcus Pointer has won the Cup as head man, winning in 2019 and 2023, plus adding one as an assistant in 2018.
On Deck
The final regular season game of the Northwoods League season will take place on Saturday, August 8th at Wade Stadium for Duluth. Tickets for the season finale can be purchased online on the team website, and the final game can be streamed on FloSports.