ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The homer drought is over.
More importantly, thanks to eight strong innings from starter Caleb Bunch, the Thunder Bay Border Cats are returning home having climbed back to .500, downing the St. Cloud Rox 7-4 on Sunday afternoon to capture their second straight Northwoods League win.
Bunch was dynamic throughout the contest, giving up just three hits, a walk and two runs – only one of them earned – lowering his ERA to 1.29 in the process and striking out seven to pick up his first win of the season.
Centrefielder Logan Johnstone snapped the team’s season-long home run drought, taking Rox reliever Owen Marsh over the wall in right in the seventh inning, the Cats becoming the last team in the Northwoods League to go deep in 2023.
Johnston and Trey Lewis had two RBI for the Cats, who will host the Rox on Monday night at Port Arthur Stadium and again on Tuesday morning, the first of two school-day games.
Lewis helped kick things off in the second.
Up 1-0 on starter Kolten Smith, Lewis singled to right to plate Brayden Kuriger and Dalton Mullins. Zane Skansi stole home to make it 4-0, a lead the visitors would hold until the third, when St. Cloud broke Bunch’s early shutout bid. Ben Vujovich crossed the plate in the fourth to cut the Thunder Bay lead to 4-2.
Thunder Bay added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, a Cole Ketzner sacrifice fly bringing home Lewis and a Brandon Willoughby wild pitch allowing Tyler Kehoe to scamper home.
St. Cloud battled back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Kannon Carr, and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Carr struck out Lincoln Berry and induced a fly to right off the bat off Ripken Reese to end the threat.
Starter Smith (0-1) took the loss, giving up four runs on three hits and three walks.
