THUNDER BAY – The comeback kids still have a few kinks to work out.
The Thunder Bay Border Cats on Friday night rallied back from five runs down to take an 8-5 lead over the Duluth Huskies, but as they errors kept piling up, so did the opposition chances.
It only took one swing of the bat for the Huskies to complete a wild comeback of their own.
Michael Hallquist blasted the second pitch he saw from Thunder Bay reliever Tanner Carter – the second pitch he threw all night – over the fence in left-centre field at Port Arthur Stadium.
The Huskies would go on to win 13-11, stranding the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth.
It was the third home run of the season for Hallquist, who trails Bismarck’s Jackson Beaman by two for the league lead, and broke open a 9-9 game, the Huskies having tied the game earlier on a two-run double by Calyn Halvorson, in an eighth inning plagued by a pair of Border Cats errors on back-to-back plays that gave Duluth the extra chances they needed to send the 1,289 fans who took in the contest at Port Arthur Stadium in disappointment.
“It was a lot of great ABs on our team and pitchers kept throwing strikes. We squeaked one out today an not too many (of our) errors hurt us today, even though it was a heavily errored game,” Hallquist said.
The Huskies third baseman had four RBI on the night, going 3-for-5 at the dish, and leads the team with 13 RBI, second best in the NWL.
“I was saying be calm, be smooth and have fun in the box. I’ve been pretty confident with runners on base this year and was just looking for a base hit. I saw a pitch and I swung at it and hit it over the fence,” Hallquist said.
The two teams combined to make 11 errors on the night.
For the Cats, it meant just five of the 13 runs their pitchers surrendered were earned. The Huskies, who threw five pitchers at the Thunder Bay lineup, gave up two unearned runs.
“It was definitely not what we wanted to do. We had them late. We made a comeback and then we just didn’t make two pitches. It came down to two pitches and that’s the situation. It is what it is. It’s a long season, so we’ve got to come back tomorrow and be ready to roll again,” said Thunder Bay manager J.M. Kelly.
The good news is the Border Cats put up double digit hits for the second straight night, and showed they could stand tall despite finding themselves down a pile of runs early.
Matthew Tippie got the start and gave up six runs over five innings, outlasting Duluth starter Preston Tenney, who hit the showers with two outs in the fourth and eight runs across.
Tippie surrendered a pair in the first and three more in the third, before settling down for a pair of scoreless innings.
Meanwhile the Cats bats came to life in the fourth, leading to six runs, designated hitter Cole Ketzner and first baseman Tyler Kehoe each driving in a pair, as Thunder Bay took an 8-5 lead.
Reliever Shane Kearbey took over in the sixth and gave up a run before Ryan Beaird took over with one out in the inning. He’d go two, giving up four unearned runs while fighting his control and walking four, leaving two aboard for Carter in the fateful eighth.
The Cats scored twice in the ninth to cut the gap to two, Logan Johnstone’s single to right scoring Peter Fusek an Zane Skansi. But with runners on first and second, closer Eli Sundquist struck out Ketzner to end the contest.
Taiga Yamane, who gave up three runs and struck out seven in 3.2 innings of relief, earned the win. Beaird was awarded the loss.
The Huskies improved to 5-5, while Thunder Bay slipped to 4-6.
The Cats hit the road for a pair against the St. Cloud Rox on Saturday and Sunday.
