THUNDER BAY – Ben North says eventually he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a financial analyst.
If he keeps hitting the way he did on Thursday night, he may need a financial analyst of his own.
The Rochester Honkers star launched a three-run bomb in the first inning that cleared the Port Arthur Stadium scoreboard, bounced off High Street and smacked into the hotel across the road.
Six innings later North went deep again, this time with the bases full.
By the time the final out was recorded, the Creighton University 2B had thoroughly demolished the Thunder Bay Border Cats pitching staff, going 5-for-6, adding a double to his extra-base count and driving in eight as the Honkers handed their hosts a third straight loss to open the second half of the Northwoods League season, downing their opponent 15-5.
North said he’s not sure he’s hit a longer ball than the blast he launched off Thunder Bay starter Peyton Leon in the first.
“It was the first time in Canada for me, so maybe that had something to do with it,” North said. “The benefit of the Northwoods League is you have a game every day. Yesterday I didn’t have a great game at the plate, and I told myself to just find a barrel in my first at bat and it ended up going over the fence.”
Rochester’s bats kept rolling in the second, the Honkers added four more runs to take a 7-0 lead, all but silencing the 912 who took in the action, the damage all coming with two outs.
Leon retired the first two batters he faced, then promptly gave up a single, a double, a single, back-to-back doubles, the first, off the bat of Nico Regino scoring two.
Leon walked two more to load the bases again before an Andrew Guidara flyout ended the inning and his night.
It became too big a hole to bounce back from said Thunder Bay left-fielder Tyler Kehoe, who had three hits in four at bats and drove in a pair with a seventh-inning triple.
“We’ve gotten in those holes before and came back from them, but tonight things just weren’t going our way and they were on the barrel the entire night. We couldn’t miss a barrel and they just kept us where we were all night,” Kehoe said.
Rochester sent 10 men to the plate in the seventh, scoring five times to extend their lead to 15-0, though starter Cole Seward, who didn’t allow a run on four hits and a walk over six innings, already had more than enough runs to ensure he’d pick up his first win of the season.
The Border Cats finally got some offence of their own going in the seventh, and like the Honkers in the second, most of the damage came with two outs.
Newcomer Daylan Pena doubled to start the rally, and with the bases loaded, Patrick Engskov drew a walk off reliever Zach Gwost. Cole Ketzner doubled to score two and Kehoe tripled to plate two more, but 10 runs down, the bats went silent again with Jonathan Laraespada on the mound to close things out in the eighth and ninth.
Leon (0-1) was charged with the loss. Ryan Garvey, in his Border Cats debut, gave up six runs in two innings of relief. The Cats best pitcher of the night might have been outfielder Peter Fusek, who took the mound to mop up and gave up just one hit – to North, of course – while striking out a pair.
The Cats and Honkers will play the second game of their four-game set on Friday night, the first pitch scheduled for 7:35 p.m., with fireworks scheduled for after the game.
