LA CROSSE, WI – The La Crosse Loggers fell to the Thunder Bay Border Cats 6-4 in a rain-soaked matchup at Copeland Park, witnessed by 560 fans.
Loggers’ starter Brayden Marx (Hawaii) pitched three innings, giving up two runs on two hits while striking out four.
The Border Cats’ Jack Pineau (South Carolina-Upstate) delivered 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out six.
Thunder Bay opened the scoring in the top of the third with a two-run homer by Zane Skansi (Creighton).
They extended their lead in the fourth, adding three runs on a Brayden Kuriger (Nicholls State) RBI double and a two-run homer by Brody Chrisman (Purdue), making it 5-0.
The Loggers responded in the bottom of the fifth with two runs, courtesy of a Luke Davis (Long Beach City) RBI double and a bases-loaded walk to Ryan Kucherak (LSU).
In the sixth inning, the Border Cats added another run with a Cole Ketzner (South Alabama) RBI double.
La Crosse narrowed the gap to 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth with a towering home run to right by Luke Davis.
Thunder Bay reliever Tyrus Riley (Fort Hays State) was dominant, pitching 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on two hits, and striking out ten.
With this defeat, the Loggers fall to 19-11, while the Border Cats improve to 15-15. The Loggers return to Copeland Park tomorrow to face the Eau Claire Express, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
