Chaotic Seventh Inning Gives Loggers Win
By Lance Jones
The La Crosse Loggers were in seventh heaven when they put up six runs in the seventh inning to take control of a 12-5 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats. What had been a tight ball game with both teams exchanging leads prior to the seventh turned in the Loggers favour. Thunder Bay with their fifth straight loss drops to 3-12, while La Crosse leads the Great Plains East Division outright at 8-7.
The Cats got off to a hot start in the first inning off of Loggers Starter Matt Kennedy (St. Joseph’s). Ryne Edmondson’s (Houston Baptist) run scoring double to left field that counted Jakob Newton (Florida Tech) put the Cats up one. Newton was on third courtesy of a Kennedy free pass and swiping of two bases.
TJ Byrd’s (Young Harris) solo home run to left knotted the game at 1-1 in the top of the second.
Bryce Jorgenson (Minnesota-Crookston) got plunked to leadoff the second. Joe Jimenez (Chapman U.) making his Border Cats debut would single in his first plate appearance to put two on and none out. Thomas Grilli (Panola Coll.) rolled one to second, a potential double play ball, but the relay throw was wide of first allowing Jorgenson home to restore a Border Cat lead.
Another lead that was short lived however. Levi Usher (Kirkwood CC) mashed a two run moon ball to plate Kyson Donahue (Arizona) and give La Crosse their first lead of the night. The Loggers would tack one more in the inning to make it 4-2.
In the fourth Jorgenson would pull a Newton. Jorgenson would steal second and third to set up Grilli who knocked him home on a single to pull Thunder Bay to within a run.
Thunder Bay would then take the lead in the sixth. With the rain pelting the stadium steady and Logger reliever Marius Balandis (St. Louis) in the game, Jake Engel (Dixie State) doubled a shot down the left field line that scored Newton and Karsten Vasquez (Sacramento City). Vazquez’s double earlier in the inning extended his hitting streak to ten games. Engel’s double gave Thunder Bay a 5-4 lead.
Another lead that was short lived however. It would be Loggers all the way from this point on. Loggers Centerfielder Usher would triple to start the inning. He would score the tying run on a follow up single by Cody Jefferis (San Diego). Pinch Hitter Cole Elvis (California) singled and a double steal put both in scoring position with no outs in the inning. Brett Hawkins’ (Young Harris) single up the middle scored both giving La Crosse a 7-5 lead. Things would go from bad to worse for the Border Cats bullpen and defense. A collection of three errors and eight wild pitches would gift the Loggers a 10-5 lead. Usher finished the game 4-for-5 and a double short of the cycle.
The Loggers never looked back and tacked on two in the eighth for good measure with Usher and Jefferis picking up RBI’s. They finished with three and two respectively on the night.
Balandis (1-0) with the run support behind him shut the door on the game. He would retire ten straight after Engel’s hit to end the night, picking up five strikeouts in four innings of work for the win.
DJ DePiero (0-2) (Bradley) took the loss for the Border Cats. He struck out four but allowed four earned runs on five hits and a walk.
The Border Cats and Loggers play games two and three of a four game series on Wednesday. It is Weenie Wednesday with hot dogs for just $1. Game one is a school day game and will start at 11:05am. The night cap will start at 7:05pm.
