LACROSSE, Wisc. – The Cardiac Cats are alone in first place.
Hitting the road on Thursday, the Thunder Bay Border Cats came-from-behind to win for the seventh straight game, Travis Chestnut delivering the 4-2 victory over the La Crosse Loggers with a two-run double in the top of the ninth.
The Border Cats opened a 1-0 lead in the first, and held the advantage through six innings, starter Peyton Leon and reliever Ryan Beaird tossing five innings of shutout ball before giving way to starter-turned-reliever Caleb Bunch, who took it the rest of the way to pick up his third win of the season.
Chestnut singled to open the game, then sped around to third on a Logan Johnstone double and scored on a dropped third strike with Cole Ketzner at the dish.
Leon got out of a first-inning jam of his own, the frame ending on a 6-4-3 double play by Austin Smith. He’d allow just two more base-runners before ceding the mound to Beaird with one out in the fourth.
Up 1-0, the Cats surrendered the lead in the seventh, though the go-ahead run came on a missed call by the umpiring crew.
Lead-off hitter Mitch Wood reached on a throwing error by Thunder Bay shortstop Tyler Griggs, and took second on Matthew Piotrowski’s sacrifice bunt. Jackson Collins doubled him home and, with two out, scored the Loggers second run of the inning when the first-base umpire called Jordan Donahue safe at first.
Brayden Kuriger made a diving stop, then threw the ball to Bunch, who beat Donahue to the bag by a step, but was called safe.
The Loggers lead wasn’t long-lived.
Patrick Engskov doubled to lead off the eighth, went to third on a Chestnut single, and with the bases loaded and no outs, he scored on Ketzner’s single to right to even the score 2-2.
Chestnut was thrown out trying to score from second on the play, right-fielder Smith firing a bullet to the plate to gun him down.
The Cats put runners on second and third with no outs to start the ninth, setting the stage for Chestnut, who was 3-for-4 on the night and is 10-for-20 since joining the team on Monday, who doubled to centre to give Thunder Bay a 4-2 lead.
Bunch allowed two runs on four hits while striking out five to pick up the win. Edward Berry allowed just one run on five hits and a walk over seven innings for the Loggers, but didn’t factor in the decision. Tony Pluta took the loss, giving up two runs on a hit, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
The triumph gives the Border Cats a one-game lead in the Great Plains East division, after starting the day in a three-way tie with Rochester and Duluth. Rochester (14-11) fell 10-6 to Eau Claire, while the Huskies (13-10) loss 8-6 to Waterloo.
The two teams will meet again on Friday.
