THUNDER BAY – Patrick Engskov has struggled at the plate this season, but found his groove at just the right time on Monday night.
The Thunder Bay Border Cats shortstop smacked a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth, the runs proving to be the difference in a 4-3 triumph in front of 811 fans at Port Arthur Stadium, coming half an inning after the Waterloo Bucks had scored three of their own to take a 3-1 lead.
It was all about digging in together and finding a way to win, said Engskov, a University of Oklahoma product who hails from Little Rock, Ark.
“We’re just resilient as a team. It showed in that eighth inning. We’re just going to go what it takes to get it done,” Engskov said.
“The guys in front of me got on, had great at bats to get on, and let me have the ability to get that hit. It was really just other guys who got on for me and we just kept on going.”
It started with catcher Cole Ketzner, who threw out a pair of would-be base stealers in the fifth, the game still scoreless at the time.
Ketzner singled up the middle and took second on Tyler Kehoe’s sacrifice bunt. Brayden Kuriger walked and Dalton Mullins singled to centre, scoring Ketzner from second and chasing reliever Dylan Warda, who took over from starter Ty Roder to start the seventh.
Jack Laird promptly walked Trey Lewis to load the bases, setting the stage for Engskov’s heroics.
“You’re looking for your zone. You just want to see the ball and hit it. You don’t want to complicate things too much. The ball is there and you just want to put a good swing on it. That’s what I did,” Engskov said.
Giving up the lead in the top of the eighth wasn’t exactly the script laid out by manager J.M. Kelly, but in baseball, a one-run lead is never safe.
“I’m about tired of character wins,” Kelly joked. “We’ve got enough of those already. We need to start putting people away. Their starter had really good stuff from the get-go, so it made it very hard for us offensively. But (our starter) Matthew Tippie did a phenomenal job to let us settle in and get that run.”
Tippie was rock solid through five innings of shutout ball, giving up just two hits and three walks, two of them in the first. The Texas State University right-hander didn’t give up a hit under Brandon Fish singled to centre with two outs in the fourth.
Roder was just as strong, tagged for five hits and a single run, while striking out seven in six innings of work.
The lone run came in the fifth. Centre-fielder Travis Chestnut, making his Border Cats debut, drew a lead-off walk and scored on a Logan Johnstone single, after advancing 90 feet with a steal of second.
It stayed 1-0 until the eighth, when the Bucks finally got to Canadian reliever Jacob Gajic, who had retired the first six batters he faced. With one out, Ben Gallaher singled to score Marcus Heusohn, tying the game 1-1, but the Bucks weren’t done.
Ryan Bearid came on to pitch for Thunder Bay, but with two outs, promptly gave up a double to Michael Lippe and a single to Drake Westcott that plated two more Waterloo runs.
Caleb Bunsch, who has been moved to the bullpen, walked Fish to open the ninth, but retired Cortlan castle, Heushohn and Christian Smith to earn the save, his first.
Beaird (1-2) earned the win, with the loss going to Warda (0-2)
The Cats (9-8) and Bucks (8-13) play two on Tuesday, a nearly sold-out school-day game at 11:05 a.m. and the nightcap at 6:35 p.m.
