THUNDER BAY – The Minnesota Mud Puppies have more second-half wins against the Thunder Bay Border Cats than the rest of the league combined.
The Northwoods League’s travelling team opened a 3-0 lead in the second inning on Thursday night at Port Arthur Stadium and never trailed, downing the Border Cats 5-4 to snap a 10-game losing streak. It was just their third win of the second half, their second against Thunder Bay, the last team they managed to beat.
To be fair, this wasn’t the same Border Cats team that last played in front of the home crowd, most of the regulars having departed early, leaving only Peter Fusek remaining of the position players from the season’s first half.
Five of the newcomers made their Border Cats lineup debut on Thursday night.
With that is bound to come some growing pains, said Cats manager J.M. Kelly, his team slipping to 9-18 in the second half.
“It’s tough. You’ve got a whole new group of guys here and you’re trying to learn who they are and trying to figure out who goes where and who does what, and it’s kind of hard to figure out with only 10 games left in the season,” Kelly said.
“That part’s tough, but these guys fought really hard and it was a really good outing by (starter) Riely (Hunsaker) and a good job on his part to be able to pound the strike zone.”
The game was lost in part by a technicality in the top of the ninth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Kelly called on Michael Pirrello, a pitcher with 12 previous outings in a Border Cats uniform.
But with so many new players arriving and being shuffled out, the Los Alamitos, Calif. native was accidentally left off the active roster, and when he arrived on the mound the umpiring crew huddled and deemed him ineligible to play.
Kelly had to hustle to bring in another reliever, Matt Jurza, who hadn’t thrown a single warm-up pitch. Not surprisingly, his first game pitch found the dirt and the backstop, allowing Brock Larsen to race home with the game-winning run.
The Cats did get out of the inning without any further scoring on the Mud Puppies part, courtesy of a Will Smoot 6-4-3 double play.
Thunder Bay’s leadoff hitter Karson Krowka, said he’s not too worried about the new-look lineup, as long as the team continues to play hard. At this point in the season, it’s all he can expect.
“There’s a lot of new faces in the clubhouse, but it’s fun meeting new guys. It’s a little difficult to get everybody together first night in. But we’re making it happen.”
Down 3-0 after Minnesota’s second turn at the plate, the Cats battled back to tie the game in the eighth, Colton Allen scoring on a delayed double steal that evened the contest 4-4, with reliever Jackson Thielen on the mound.
Local second baseman Porter Jorgenson, who spent time with the team early in the season, grounded out with Cad Marquardt on second, setting up the decisive ninth.
The Cats battled back a bit in the second, scoring once, but ran themselves out of the inning. Chad Herrera scored the first Thunder Bay run a wild pitch, but Allen was thrown out trying to add a second run on the play and the inning ended when catcher Cade Marquardt was caught on a delayed steal of second.
“I think it was reckless. We were down 3-1 at the time and we tried to score that second run on the passed ball. We’ve got to know who we are in that situation. If that’s Travis Chestnut or that’s Peter Fusek, you score no problem. If you’re a catcher, it’s not your place to try to (steal) when you’re down. If we’re up by four, be aggressive, but when you’re down, any move like that becomes reckless,” Kelly said.
Ryan Vondracek was charged with the loss, the win going to Thielen. Hunsaker went six, allowing four runs, three of them earned, on seven hits.
The Cats and Mud Puppies (3-17) wrap up their two-game set on Friday night. Game-time is 7:35 p.m., with fireworks to follow.
