THUNDER BAY – Andrew Hardin didn’t start at all in college.
The coaches at Southwestern University may want to rethink that.
Turned loose with the Thunder Bay Border Cats, the right-hander from Salado, Texas has been nothing short of spectacular in two starts this season, including a heroic effort on Monday night.
Hardin went seven-and-two-thirds innings, allowing one unearned run on five hits, while walking none, powering the Border Cats to a 2-1 win over the visiting Eau Claire Express at Port Arthur Stadium, their fourth straight win at home this season.
“When I first went out there everything was kind of working. I was hitting spots,” said Hardin, who went 4-1 in college in 2024, striking out 46 in 39.2 innings and earning four saves.
“The fastball was probably my best for a couple of innings, but then the slider really kicked in for me and I threw a lot of sliders at the end. It helped keep hitters off balance. I was mostly a back-end guy at my school, so that was the first time I’ve started in a while and gone that many.”
Both sides got great pitching all game long.
Eau Claire’s Dawson Hargrove got the start and got through four innings, but was tagged with a couple of runs, thanks to a well-placed ball by Border Cats left-fielder Kenneth Sugi.
With two outs in the fourth, the North Vancouver native lifted a short fly ball to left that turned around Express shortstop Jake Busson and fell to the ground, allowing Jack Prewett and Ty Hamilton to score, helping to salvage a promising inning that earlier saw Cole Ketzner thrown out trying to score from third on a grounder to Eau Claire first baseman Justin Sedin.
Sugi, a sophomore at Missouri University of Science and Technology, said he just wanted to put the ball in play and let the chips fall where they may.
“I was honestly just looking for a fastball up to hit. I know in my previous at bat I’d lined out to left. I was a little frustrated at that. Luckily, I got a pitch to hit and drove it somewhere and was able to cash in two. That was kind of the whole approach that at bat,” Sugi said.
Harden was about as efficient as a pitcher can be through seven innings, facing just one batter over the minimum.
His only trouble came in the eighth.
Eau Claire’s Gabe Richardson hit a slow roller to short for an infield single. Sedin followed with another ground ball that looked like a sure-fire double play, but the Cats only got Richardson. Austin Miller singled and Hudson Deal, the No. 9 hitter, blooped a ball to left that 3B Logan McIntyre couldn’t reel in, the error allowing Sedin to score, cutting Thunder Bay’s lead in half to 2-1.
Thunder Bay manager J.M. Kelly went to the bullpen, calling on southpaw Carter Wall to end the threat and was rewarded, thanks to a great grab by second baseman Cole LeClair, who raced into no-man’s land to snag a soft liner off the bat of George Bilecki.
Wall got some more defensive help in the ninth.
With one out, and Dylan O’Connell on first, Eau Claire clean-up hitter Jake Busson hit a tailing foul ball that was drifting toward the mesh. Right-fielder Ty Hamilton had just enough space to catch up to it, recording the second out of the inning.
Wall then struck out Richardson, who was 2-for-4 on the night, to end the game.
Hardin earned the win, improving to 2-0.
Andrew Bell tossed four innings of one-hit relief for the Express (4-4), who slipped three games behind the first-place Cats (7-1), who lead Duluth and La Crosse by two games. Duluth will be in town on Wednesday and Thursday night. Game time both nights is 6:35 p.m.
