First baseman Riley Iffrig (pictured), had a two-run double in his Border Cats debut on Wednesday against the St. Cloud Rox.
With some new faces in the lineup to open the second half of the Northwoods League season, the Thunder Bay Border Cats took down the St. Cloud Rox 7-4 on Wednesday night before 722 fans at Port Arthur Stadium. The Cats have now won six of their last seven games to improve their overall record to 19-16.
With St. Cloud leading 3-1 in the fourth inning, Jackson Cooke (University of Tennessee at Martin) blasted a three-run home run to give the Cats the lead for good at 4-3. Cooke also added a sacrifice fly for a four RBI night when the Cats plated three more runs in the fifth inning, which included a two-run double by newcomer Riley Iffrig (Indiana State University). Zane Skansi (Creighton University) had another solid performance at the plate, going 3-for-5, to raise his team leading batting average to .330.
Peter Fusek (University of Wisconsin-Parkside) picked up the win in relief. The righthander allowed one run on six hits over 4 1/3 innings with two strikeouts. Sean Heppner (University of British Columbia) had a big strikeout with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning and pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the season.
The Cats and Rox wrap up their two-game series on Thursday at 6:35pm. Thunder Bay native Jack Pineau will make his sixth start of the season. The righthander is 2-0 with a 4.13 ERA. It’s Thirsty Thursday presented by Sleeping Giant Brewery with Border Cats RBI Lager tall boys on sale for just $7.00. The stadium ticket office opens on game days at 10:00am.
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The Thunder Bay Border Cats are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Entering its’ 31st season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 26 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires, and front office staff, over 350 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time All-Star and 2016 Roberto Clemente Award winner Curtis Granderson, three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (TEX), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist and Brandon Crawford (STL) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (ATL). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and 2019/2021 Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and 2023 World Series Champion, 2021 and 2023 All-Star, MLB Gold Glove winner and two-time All-MLB first team shortstop Marcus Semien (TEX). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. League games are viewable live at watchnwl.com and on ESPN+. For more information visit www.bordercatsbaseball.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rockers as your favorite team.