THUNDER BAY – Sometimes you have to be lucky to be good. The Thunder Bay Border Cats loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, playing in their first-half finale, and thanks to a couple of untimely errors by the Rochester Honkers defence, stole away a 2-1 victory to finish at 18-16. Canadian Ty Hamilton stepped to the plate to face Drew Peters and hit a grounder to second baseman Brendan O’Sullivan, who fired home to gun down Ty Brooks and prevent the winning run from crossing the plate.
Catcher Augusto Mungarrietta tried to send the game to extra innings, but his throw to first, to complete what would have been an inning-ending 4-2-3 double play, sailed into right field, allowing Brayden Kuriger to race home from second to seal the win for Thunder Bay. It was a wild finish, said Hamilton, who plans to remain with the team for the second half. “The bats weren’t going early.
They had a good pitcher on the mound and our guy was going too. (Caleb) Bunch was unreal tonight. We found a way to scratch (one) across, got to the bullpen, finally and got it done at the end,” Hamilton said.
“It was not exactly the prettiest win, but we’ll take it.” Brooks said it’s the type of game players love. “They’re a lot of fun.
It was back-and-forth the whole game. Both pitchers threw well. We got the last crack at it and were able to come around and do it in the end.
” It was a pitchers’ duel from the very start. Bunch, making his final start fo.
