THUNDER BAY – Three batters in and Robert Spencer was already scrambling from the Border Cats dugout to the right-field bullpen.
It didn’t bode well for starter Sam Peterson, making his Northwoods League debut on Monday night against the St. Cloud Rox, a team the Border Cats had beaten on the road the two previous nights.
Peterson lasted four more batters, failed to retire any of them, and departed after one out and a 4-0 deficit.
By the time the first was over the Rox had sent a dozen men to the plate, the Border Cats trailed 7-0 and the game all but out of reach before the Port Arthur Stadium crowd had fully settled in its seats. Thunder Bay scored single runs in the first and fourth, but only managed three hits on the night and fell 10-2 to snap a two-game winning streak.
“We were playing a great team and we knew we were going to have to come with our best stuff,” said St. Cloud second baseman Kyle Jackson, who went 3-for-5 with a double, a solo home run and four RBI on the night.
“We knew all the hitters were going to have to command the zone, figure it out early, how to really get on top of the baseball and shoot it the other way. Props to their pitchers, they were really making us work hard, getting us to deep counts and making us earn everything we got. But we were able to put up a good seven-spot in the first and pretty much run with hit from there.”
It just wasn’t Peterson’s night.
After retiring the leadoff hitter, he faced six more St. Cloud, walking four of them. Jackson had the big blow, a bases-loaded double that plated a pair, a third run coming home on a throwing error by right-fielder Brayden Kuriger, also making his Border Cats debut.
Thunder Bay manager J.M. Kelly said Peterson has been with the team for about a week and hadn’t had a proper chance to show his stuff.
“It is what it is. He went and got the first out and we kind of knew coming in he was going to have some command issues. There’s nothing we can do about it now, but he can continue to grow from that, or he can look at it an continue down the path he’s on,” Kelly said.
“I think if you’re a competitor like he is, he’s going to look at that and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got to improve and get better.’”
Despite trailing by seven before their first hitter stepped up to the plate, the Border Cats (6-7) did get off to a good start offensively, rattling three straight hits off St. Cloud southpaw Cade Lommel.
Unfortunately for the 705 on hand to witness it, the home side didn’t get another hit until there were two out in the ninth, No. 9 hitter Jonah Sutton punching one through, a classic case of too little, too late by that point in the contest.
Cole Ketzner plated the first Thunder Bay run, singling off Lommel to score Lewis. Logan Johnstone and Ketzner completed a double steal to put two Border Cats runners in scoring position, with one out, but Peter Fusek struck out and Tyler Griggs grounded out to second to end the threat.
Spencer held the fort, going 3.2 innings, allowing a single run on three hits before giving way to Peyton Leon to start the fifth.
Leon, Tanner Carter and Cole Poirrier, another pitcher making his Thunder Bay debut, each gave up a run in relief.
Lommel went five innings, striking out seven, to earn the victory, his only other run allowed an unearned one in the fourth.
The Cats and Rox (10-5) wrap up their two-game set on Tuesday morning, with Jack Pineau on the mound for Thunder Bay. Game time is 11:05 a.m.
