LA CROSSE, WI – The La Crosse Loggers secured a thrilling 5-4 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Thursday night at Copeland Park, delighting a crowd of 1,102 fans.
Loggers’ starter Brendan Moody was in excellent form, allowing no runs and just one hit over four innings while striking out five.
Thunder Bay’s starter Kansai Sugimoto also impressed, pitching five innings, allowing only three hits, and striking out three.
The Border Cats opened the scoring in the fourth inning when Logan McIntyre doubled and was driven home by a single from Jacob Miller. They extended their lead in the sixth inning with another run from hits by Miller, Trey Fikes, and Jack Prewett.
The Loggers’ bats were mostly quiet for the majority of the night. Their first run came on an RBI groundout by Cam Pruitt, driving in Cooper Brass. Gable Mitchell followed with an RBI double to right-center, driving in Jack Collins to tie the score at 2-2. In the next inning, the Loggers added another run with a Derek Mitchell double, driving in RJ Hamilton.
In the ninth inning, Ozzie Martinez attempted to close the game for the Loggers, but the Border Cats managed to score two more runs through walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the ninth, Freddy Rodriguez singled to center. Zach Wadas walked, advancing Rodriguez to second. RJ Hamilton then hit a double into the left-center gap on the fourth pitch he saw, allowing Wadas and Rodriguez to score and securing the Loggers’ second win of the young season.
With this win, the Loggers improve to 2-2, while the Border Cats suffer their first loss of the season, dropping to 3-1. The Loggers return to action at home tomorrow at 6:35 p.m. as they take on the Rochester Honkers.
