LA CROSSE, WI – The Thunder Bay Border Cats came into Friday night’s game winning seven in a row. After beating the Loggers 4-2 on Thursday, the Lumbermen were looking to break the streak.
Scoring came early and often. In the bottom of the first, a single and a walk put on two base runners for Gabe D’Arcy (San Diego) who hit a double down the left field line, scoring one. The Border Cats would square the game at one each with a solo home run by Tyler Kehoe in the second.
Also in the second, Jack Collins (Long Beach State) singled and advanced to third before scoring on a passed ball to give La Crosse the advantage. Later in the inning, Gable Mitchell (Iowa) would swipe home after a throw-down to second to catch Jordan Donahue (Hawaii) stealing. The diversion was successful and the Loggers were up 3-1.
But it was punch, counter punch as the Border Cats stepped up to the plate next. Zane Skansi would hit a home run of his own with a man on to score two and tie the game at 3. The Loggers would score one more run in the bottom of the third to take the lead back on a double-play.
The Border Cats finally took the lead in the fourth. A Peter Fusek RBI single would tie the game once again before Jonah Sutton would hit a sacrifice fly to give the Border Cats the lead 5-4. In the sixth, it was Justin DeCriscio (San Diego) who hit an RBI single to tie the game at five. Something had to give, and it would take extras for someone to budge.
In the tenth inning, Logger pitcher Sam Hart (Iowa) came in to keep the game tied. After a sacrifice bunt moved the ghost runner from second to third, Hart got two swinging strikeouts of Thunder Bay batters, ending the inning and celebrating with his teammates on the way to the dugout. In the bottom half of the inning, it only took two Logger batters to finish the game. A passed ball allowed Mic Paul (LSU) to advance to third before Justin DeCriscio singled to center field as Copeland Park erupted in victory. Fireworks post-game felt so right.
The Loggers improve to 8-16, tied for last place in the Great Plains East. The Border Cats fall to 13-9 and share first place in the division with the Duluth Huskies. The two division foes will battle it out again tomorrow night.
