Papierski wins it for Cats in 10th after Kay tosses gem

THUNDER BAY -- Michael Papierski can be counted on in the clutch.

The Thunder Bay Border Cats catcher chopped a 10th-inning single through the left side of the infield on Saturday night, delivering a 2-1 win in front of 803 fans at Tbaytel Park.

The infield chopper plate Gui Gingras from third, salvaging an eight-inning gem by starter Gunnar Kay, who held the visiting Wisconsin Rapids Rafters to just five hits and a single run, a seventh-inning, two-out blast by Ben Fisher that broke a scoreless tie.

Kay, who’s had an up-and-down season for the Cats, was at his absolute best against the Rafters, leaving after one out in the ninth.

“The motivation came from yesterday, when we had to use seven pitchers. I came out with the mindset to save our bullpen today an that’s kind of what happened,” said Kay, the youngest of three baseball brothers to play for the Border Cats.

“I was trying to give them a full nine, just threw too many pitches. But it was some extra motivation definitely.”

Last time Kay faced Wisconsin Rapids, who at 9-6 are heavy in the hunt for the Northwoods League’s South Division second-half crown, he was pulled in the fourth.

There was a measure of satisfaction lasting double that number of innings this time around, he said.

“To be able to double that is a great feeling and I’m glad I gave my team a chance to win,” Kay said.

Manager Cole Mahoney-Bruer said Kay’s performance is just the type of outing the Border Cats (6-9) are going to need from their staff the rest of the way to wind their way back into playoff contention.

“He commanded the fastball really, really well. When you command the fastball you make life a lot easier early in the game. It’s shorter at bats, letting them put it in play, letting the defence make plays. Even though we made two mistakes behind him – that’s going to happen – he limits a lot of the wear and tear on himself by getting outs early,” Mahoney-Bruer said.

Kay threw 109 pitches in total, 74 for strikes.

Wisconsin Rapids starter Jake Repavich was equally stingy, allowing just four hits and two walks in seven innings.

The Cats finally got to him in the seventh, Gui Gingras singling home Shane Shepard with two outs to tie the score.

The Rafters Logan Mattix doubled off closer Vinny Santarsiero to open the 10th, who then walked pinch hitter Brandon Polizzi. But he found another gear after that striking out the next three hitters to end the threat.

Gingras was front and centre on the winning run, walked by Garrett Schilling to start the 10th. He advance to third on successive groundouts, then waltzed home with the winning run on Papierski’s second hit of the night.

“I was just trying to find the barrel,” Papierski said. “I was just going up there and it was just another at bat. You want to take every at bat like it’s you last at bat. It just happened I came up with two outs, a guy on third and just put a barrel on it and it got through.”

The game was marred with a moment of controversy in the second, when Rafters leadoff hitter Demetrius Sims and manager Craig Nota were tossed after arguing that Sims had tagged Joe Gellenbeck in a rundown, the umpire ruling he’d missed the tag.

The two teams meet again on Sunday night at 5:05 p.m.