THUNDER BAY, ON- The Thunder Bay Border Cats (10-18) pushed across three crucial insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and held off a ninth inning Waterloo Bucks (19-8) rally to win 6-4 on Monday, June 26.
The Border Cats bashed 15 hits and got started early with an RBI single up the middle by Kevin Biondic in the bottom of the first.
Josh Elvir blasted his first home run of the season on a two-run shot over the right field fence in the top of the fourth inning handing the Bucks a 2-1 lead.
Thunder Bay did not wait that long to answer as Colton Thomas singled through the right side of the infield to knot things up 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth.
Waterloo starting pitcher Hunter Spencer pitched four and two third innings before being taken out in favor of Zachary Patterson (1-1) who gave up the lead on an RBI sac-fly to center by Noah Strohl in the bottom of the sixth inning. Aaron George (1-1) struck out eight batters through six innings of work.
The score was 3-2 until Colin Rosenbaum drove an RBI double to the left center field gap and a few moments later with the base loaded, Thomas delivered again this time with a two-run base knock to center.
Brady Hill was brought in to shut the door but the Bucks were not going to leave Canada without a fight as Waterloo pushed across two more runs via an error and fielder's choice but eventually came up short, snapping a three game winning streak.
The Bucks travel back home to take on the Mankato MoonDogs tomorrow, June 27 at 6:35 p.m. at Riverfront Stadium.
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The Waterloo Bucks are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The 23-year-old summer collegiate league is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 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, more than 160 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including two-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champion Ben Zobrist (CHC) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET), Curtis Granderson (NYM) and Lucas Duda (NYM). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.waterloobucks.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Bucks as your favorite team.