THUNDER BAY – The Minnesota Mud Puppies nickel-and-dimed the Thunder Bay Border Cats for most of the night.
But eventually they ran out of change.
Buoyed by a record regular-season crowd of 3,051, who came to take in the team’s 2024 home opener and watch the post-game fireworks show, the Cats delivered the fourth win in five outings to start their 19th Northwoods League campaign, battling back to edge the Mud Puppies 3-2.
Logan McIntyre, who singled in the fifth to score Lucas Terilli with the game-tying run, called it a great team win.
“We were struggling to get our offence going at first, but we got some people on base and we were able to get it done,” said MacIntyre, a Sacramento, Calif. native and junior at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
“We played some great defence too. That can always help. And our pitching was phenomenal. It was a great start with Jack (Pineau) and then (Tyrus) Riley there at the end was phenomenal.”
Pineau, who got the start for the Cats, tossed four-and-two-thirds innings, allowing seven hits and two runs, though three of the first five hits didn’t make it out of the infield.
Riley came on in the seventh and threw three innings of three-hit relief, keeping a Mud Puppies team desperate to find a run to keep the game going, off the scoreboard to earn the save, his first in a Thunder Bay uniform.
“Our guys didn’t give up,” said manager J.M. Kelly. “They found a way to fight through the adversity. It was a terrific job. You have to win baseball games like that.”
The second-year skipper was equally impressed with middle-man Carter Wall, who took the ball from Pineau with two outs in the fifth, then allowed two baserunners in the sixth, only to retire Matthew Maulik and Colten Becker and end the threat.
“Carter Wall is kind of what’s going to go unnoticed,” Kelly said. “Obviously he got the win, but there was that point in time when he comes in and helps Pineau get out of that inning and gets that next one. That really bridged the gap to be able to get to Ty Riley and he just did a really good job all around.”
The Cats struck first, getting to Minnesota starter Will Kent in the first, after Pineau retired the side in order to start the contest.
Terilli and Brayden Frassman walked, and then, with one out, Terilli scampered home on a McIntyre ground out.
Becker and Will Smoot hit back-to-back singles off Pineau in the third, and the Mud Puppies (0-1) came through with some clutch two-out hitting to take a 2-1 lead, Lincoln Berry and Caden Headlee singling in back-to-back at bats to score both runners.
After tying the game in the fifth, Kelly dug deep into his playbook, some smart base-running producing the game-winning run.
McIntyre, standing on first and Fritz Meyer on in relief of Kent, took off for second, but slowed up before reaching the bag, content to get caught in a rundown. Fraasman broke for home and a wild throw from second was wide of the mark, giving the Cats the lead for good.
Riley got out of a small jam in the seventh, retired the side in order in the eighth, and with two outs and runners on first and third, found and extra gear on his fastball and struck out Lincoln Berry to end the threat and the ballgame.
“Really, I feel like I’m just getting back into it,” Riley said. “I took a big break from college to here, so I’m still trying to get back into shape. I didn’t have my best stuff, but I got it done.”
Cat tracks: Joshua Koskie, son of former Minnesota Twins star and Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer Corey Koskie, pinch ran for the Mud Puppies in the ninth, but was stranded on third.
