Madison, WI – August 15, 2008. Pitching shined in game one of the 2008 Northwoods League Championship Series Friday night at the “Duck Pond” in Madison, with Thunder Bay’s Nate Woods outdueling Madison’s Gabriel Shaw (Louisville) to lead the Border Cats to a 1-0 win. Thunder Bay now takes a crucial one-game-to-zero lead in the best-of-three series, with game two set for 6:05 p.m. (CST) Saturday night from Thunder Bay. Both starting pitchers threw eight solid innings, with only a Mike O’Neill RBI double staining Shaw’s outstanding pitching line. Woods scattered just four hits in his eight innings, and Jimmy Stanley picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.
The bottom third of the Mallards order accounted for three of the team’s four hits on the night. O’Neill had a single in the sixth to go along with his game-winning double in the eighth, and Chris Curley also had two hits for the Border Cats, who are one win away from their first championship since 2005. The Border Cats defeated the Mallards in 2005 to take the title.
Shaw had no trouble with the Border Cats in the first, inducing two easy groundouts and a flyout to retire the side. Woods ran into a little trouble in the bottom of the first, putting the leadoff batter Aaron Bray (Charlotte) on with a walk, but got some timely outs to work around another walk and set down the Mallards with no runs allowed. Woods threw 25 pitches in the first inning.
In the top of the second, Shaw gave up a first-pitch leadoff double to his counterpart Woods. Curley then grounded the ball to Brandon Wikoff (Illinois) at short, who threw to third to easily retire Woods who was running on the play. Shaw then retired Josh Ashenbrenner on a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. Woods settled down in the bottom of the second and worked through the Mallards lineup in order to keep the game scoreless after two frames.
Each hurler exchanged scoreless innings from the third until the top of the eighth. Madison saw its first hit in the fourth, when Lyerly doubled to left field with one out. The Mallards also added a pair of singles by Drew Martin (NC State) and Eric Nielsen (Purdue) in the fifth, but could not move them around to score. Thunder Bay had runners in scoring position in the fourth through seventh innings, but Shaw managed to get out of all jams and keep the game scoreless.
In the top of the eighth the Border Cats finally broke through for the game’s first run. Ryan Terry singled through the left side to start the inning, and he was sacrificed over to second base with a bunt by Connor Lind. O’Neill then stepped up and delivered an RBI double to center field on a 0-1 pitch to score Terry from third.
That would be all the Border Cats pitching would need, as Woods worked around a leadoff single by Josh Groves (UW-Milwaukee) in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a timely double play to finish off his outing without giving up a run. Stanley, who saved a league-high 15 games in the regular season, needed just 13 pitches to dispose of the Mallards in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the game one victory. Andy Deain pitched the final inning for the Mallards, striking out two and not allowing a hit.
Game two will be from Thunder Bay Saturday night at 6:05 p.m. (CST). Joe Yermal (Charlotte) will start on the mound for the Mallards against Thunder Bay’s Danny Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum pitched six innings in a start against the Mallards on June 9, allowing just three hits and no earned runs. Yermal also has faced the Border Cats in the regular season, working seven solid innings and allowing just four hits in a no-decision on June 10. If necessary, game three will be Sunday night in Thunder Bay at 6:05 p.m. (CST).
