THUNDER BAY – Sam Stem was looking for a fastball and he got it.
The Thunder Bay Border Cats newcomer laced a two-out line drive to centre to cap a ninth-inning rally, the RBI single scoring Brody Chrisman from third with the game-winning run, the second run of the inning as the Cats rallied from 7-6 down to pull out an improbable 8-7 triumph over the La Crosse Loggers in front of more than 1,000 fans at Port Arthur Stadium.
“Honestly, I just tried to go up there with a clean mind, not try to do much and try to hit something up the middle,” said Stem, who now has five hits and four RBI in four games since joining the Border Cats at the conclusion of the first half of the Northwoods League season.
“I knew he was going to throw a fastball early in the count, so I was just sitting on that. I got the pitch and just did enough with it.”
It helped salvage a game that saw Thunder Bay open up a 6-2 lead after five innings, only to allow the first-half champion Loggers right back into it, eventually taking a 7-6 lead in the eighth when Matthew Miura singled to right against Cats relieve Mason Lemons to score Sebastian David and Luke Anderson.
Retired in order in their own half of the eighth, the Border Cats rally in the ninth began when Cole Ketzner was hit by an Ozzie Martinez pitch. Brody Chrisman followed with a single and Riley Iffrig was also grazed by Martinez, loading the bases for Tucker Stockman.
The Border Cats catcher hit a slow roller to first that Case Sanderson was unable to field cleanly, and pinch runner Nathanael Frederking scampered 90 feet from third to even the score, bringing Stern to the dish.
Border Cats manager J.M. Kelly, whose team is now 3-1 to start the second half, said he told his hitters to aim for positive results, especially once Iffrig reached, loading the bases and setting up a force play at any bag.
“I just wanted those guys to know we’ve got to get the line drive back. I wanted to try to steal second as quick as we could to stay out of the double play. We got hit by the pitch on the stolen bases. I probably shouldn’t have yelled ‘He got hit’ as loudly as I did, I should have let it play out to see if he would have let that go and we probably would have scored,” Kelly said.
“It is what it is. It worked out. Stockman got the bat on the ball. It’s not what you want, but really good on his part. I just wanted those guys to know you’ve got a really good hitter on deck, so let’s not do anything too extreme to screw anything up.”
Thunder Bay starter Julian Parson, who entered the game with a 16.20 ERA, found trouble in the first. Doubles by Luke Anderson and Case Sanderson made it 1-0 and Sanderson later scored on a fielder’s choice with Ryan Kucherak at the plate.
A Tucker Stockman RBI single off La Crosse starter Jed Decooman cut the Loggers lead to 2-1 after one and the Cats tied things up in the second when Ty Hamilton singled to score Ty Brooks, who reached on a one-out walk.
A base-running mistake by Matthew Miura, who left third early on a potential Kucherak sacrifice fly and was called out, kept the game tied and the Border Cats responded in a hurry.
Cole Ketzner slammed a ball over the fence and through the trees in left to give Thunder Bay its first lead of the night. With two on Stern singled in another run and Thomas Cooper, making his Border Cats debut, plated another to make it 5-2 through three.
La Crosse got to Parson in the sixth, the Thunder Bay right-hander walking three of the first four batters he faced before giving way to Sean Heppner.
Heppner walked Kanon Sundgren and then, after getting Sebastian David to pop up, No. 9 hitter Cooper Brass got just enough on a pitch to send the ball to the outfield, scoring two more, the Cats lead shrinking to 6-5.
Thunder Bay, tied for top spot in the Great Plains East with Duluth, who’ll they’ll tangle with on Sunday on the road.
Their next home game is Friday against La Crosse (0-3).
