THUNDER BAY – A five-run fourth inning propelled the Thunder Bay Border Cats to a second straight Northwoods League triumph – and a return to the .500 mark.
Zane Skansi hit the first Border Cats home run at Port Arthur Stadium in nearly four years and Jonah Sutton went 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI hitting out of the nine-hole, leading Thunder Bay to a 10-4 win over the Eau Claire Express.
The win came despite the early departure of starter Peyton Fosher, who walked four batters and had to leave after one inning because he’d thrown 39 pitches in the first, four more than the league limit.
Reliever Billy Humphrey took over and gave the Cats five strong innings of six-hit, two-run ball as Thunder Bay climbed into a third-place tie with the 9-9 Express in the Northwoods League’s Great Plains East Division.
The Cats are now just a game-and-a-half out of top spot, tailing Rochester (11-8) and Duluth (9-8), and set to welcome the Waterloo Bucks (8-11) for four games in three days.
“Yeah, we’re hot right now. We’re doing great things and if we keep putting runs across the board and playing like we are, then I think we have a bright future,” said Skansi, bumped to the top of the lineup with lefty Cal Higgins taking to the bump for the Express.
Skansi, a red-shirt junior at Creighton University, future home of Thunder Bay-born teammate Jack Pineau, said it felt great to put the ball over the fence, the first Cat to do so at home since Joe Jimenez on Aug. 11, 2019.
“It means a lot. The crowd was electric, so it was fun to get that one out of the way,” said Skansi, the home run just the second of the season for a Thunder Bay batter.
The shot, over the wall in left, gave the Border Cats a 2-1 lead, though it was short-lived.
“He did a really good job of locking in at the plate today,” said manager J.M. Kelly. “That’ll be him all season. He’ll have ups and downs obviously, but he’s a really good ballplayer, a really good hitter overall.”
Eau Claire’s Kaden Galason singled off Humphrey, stole second and scored on Tanner Marsh’s two-out single, evening the game at two runs apiece.
Cole Ketzner walked and Peter Fusek singled to open the Cats half of the fourth, and with one out a Brayden Kuriger single loaded the bases. Trey Lewis responded with a run-scoring single to centre and Sutton blasted a double to left, plating Kuriger and Lewis, ending Higgins’ afternoon.
Carter Allen, hitting just .154 coming into Sunday’s Father’s Day match – played in front of 1,385 fans – promptly singled to put runners on the corners, followed by a Skansi walk that loaded the bases.
One out later Ketzner walked to score the fifth run of the inning and Thunder Bay took a 7-2 lead into the fifth.
They’d add three more in the seventh to put the game away, Sutton singling in two more runs, boosting his season average to .357 in the process.
Humphrey (2-0) earned the win, giving way to Griffin Catto in the seventh. Higgins was charged with the loss, giving up seven runs on six hits. Daniel Rosado, the Express’ fourth of five pitchers on the day, surrendered the other three Thunder Bay runs.
Cole Poirrier closed it out in the ninth, walking a one before retiring the side.
The Cats and Buck take to the field on Monday night at 6:35 p.m.
