WATERLOO, Iowa – The Border Cats bats came to life a little too late against the Waterloo Bucks.
The Cats spotted the Bucks an 8-0 lead, then scored four runs, two in the eighth and two in the ninth, to cut the gap.
But when Chaney Trout recorded the final out, despite giving up two hits and two walks in his only inning of relief, Thunder Bay was on the wrong side of a 9-4 decision.
The good news is the loss didn’t loosen the Border Cats grasp on first place in the Northwoods League’s Great Plains division, as both of the team’s nearest challengers, the Rochester Honkers and the Duluth Huskies, lost on Thursday night.
A six-run seventh did the visitors in.
Thunder Bay starter Mason Lemons, who had only allowed two runs to that point, got the first batter on a ground-out, and was looking good with two outs and a runner on second.
Then the bottom fell out.
Luke Finn singled, Tagger Tyson was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Rick Requejo both scored on a fielder’s choice.
Lemons walked Larry Edwards to continue the inning, giving way to reliever Carter Wall.
Wall walked in a run with Lucas Moore at the dish, hit Ben Wilmes to score another, then issued another bases-loaded walk to Marcus Heushohn. A Cole Smith infield single plated the final run of the inning before Wall got Evan Morrison to ground out to first.
Lemons allowed seven runs, but only two of them were earned, on seven hits and two walks.
His Waterloo counterpart, Kyle Beaty, tossed a gem, pitching seven shutout innings, allowing just six hits and a walk.
The Cats finally broke through against reliever Braedyn Cunningham, who gave up a two-run shot to Sam Stem in the eighth.
Zane Skansi had an RBI single in the ninth and Stem drove in his third run of the night on a fielder’s choice.
The Cats (11-6) and Bucks (7-10) tangle again on Friday night.
