DULUTH, Minn. – The Thunder Bay Border Cats continue to find out ways to scratch out wins.
Zane Skansi doubled home a run in t he fifth and Brody Chrisman followed with a sacrifice fly, helping the Cats jump out to a 3-0 lead.
They hung on, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and edged their cross-border rivals, the Duluth Huskies, 3-2.
Thunder Bay also scored in the second inning off Duluth starter Devin Dodson, Ty Brooks scoring on a Nathanael Frederking RBI single.
Tanner Spolarjic got the start for Thunder Bay and was credited with the win, his first of the season, tossing six shutout innings while allowing just three hits and two walks.
The Huskies finally broke through with reliever Griffin Catto on the mound, scoring a pair in the seventh to cut the Thunder Bay lead to one.
A lead-off single and a one-out walk put runners on first and second and Jake Downing promptly singled to score Charlie Sutherland. Cal Elvish singled to load the bases and Jayden Duplantier grounded out to second to score Joe Vos.
But it was as close as the Huskies would get.
Mason Lemons was brought on to close out the contest with one out and one on in the ninth.
The Huskies jumped on him quickly, Cal Elvish singling Duplantier working the count for a wall to load the bases.
Lemons settled down at that point, striking out Josh Duarte for the second out on the inning and retiring Tyler Palmer on a flyball to right to end the threat.
The Cats fourth straight win improved their record to 5-1, tops in the Northwoods League’s Great Plains East Division, a half a game ahead of second-place Rochester (4-1).
Thunder Bay heads to Waterloo on Tuesday for the start of a four-game set against the Bucks (2-4). The Huskies, with the loss, dropped to 3-3.
