Blue Thunder near .500 mark for second half

THUNDER BAY, Ontario - The Brainerd Blue Thunder pulled within a game of the .500 mark following a 6-3 Northwoods League victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats Monday night.

Jared McDonald, Mitch Caster, Jeff Lockwood and Curtis Restko each had two hits as Brainerd improved to 7-8 in the second half.

Scott Foley pitched 5 1/3 innings to pick up his first win. He allowed eight hits and three earned runs and walked two.

Matt DeGagne pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up one hit with one walk one and one strikeout.

Mitch Caster earned his first save with a perfect ninth inning.

Brainerd tied the game 2-2 with two unearned runs in the second inning.

Lockwood's two-run double with two out in the third gave the Blue Thunder a 4-2 lead.

McDonald had an RBI single in the sixth. Brainerd scored its final run on a bases-loaded walk to AJ Petterson in the eighth.

Chris Curley was the only Border Cat with two hits.

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Thunder Bay 200 001 000 - 3 9 2

Brd: Scott Foley, Matt DeGagne (6), Mitch Caster (9) and Trey Lucas.

TB: Brett Brach, Jake Schmidt (6), Jordan Dorsett (9) and Dean Forthun.

W: Foley (1-1). L: Brach (3-6). Sv: Caster (1).

DP: Brd 4, TB 1.

LOB: Brd 10, TB 6.

2B: Brd-Caster, Jeff Lockwood, Curtis Restko; TB-Mike O'Neill, Tim Palincsar.

S: Brd-Codi Harshman; TB-Jon Kelton.

SB: Brd-Jared McDonald, Caster, Troy Landi.

RBIs: Brd-McDonald, AJ Petterson, Lockwood 2; TB-Tim Palincsar, Jon Kelton.

T: 2:58

A: 741

Records: Brd 7-8, TB 9-5

Next: Alexandria vs. Brainerd 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at Mills Field.

Sunday's game

Thunder Bay 4,

Blue Thunder 1

THUNDER BAY, Ontario - Following a rain delay of an hour and 40 minutes Thunder Bay beat the Blue Thunder 4-1 Sunday night.

Caster, Nick DeBiasse and Restko each had two hits for Brainerd. DeBiasse drove in the only Blue Thunder run with an RBI single in the fourth.

Lockwood started for Brainerd and pitched 6 2/3 innings. He gave up one earned run and six hits with two walks. Darryl Stringfield finished, striking out two, walking four and allowing two earned runs and two hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Alex Kubal had two hits for the Border Cats.

Nate Woods picked up his third win. In six innings he gave up six hits and one earned run, walked three and struck out four. Jimmy Stanley earned his 10th save with 1 1/3 perfect innings in relief.

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Thunder Bay 011 000 02X - 4 8 0

Brd: Jeff Lockwood, Darryl Stringfield (7) and Tim Winslow.

TB: Nate Woods, Danny Rosenbaum (7), Jake Schmidt (8), Jimmy Stanley (8) and Dean Forthun.

WP: Woods (3-1). LP: Lockwood (0-1). Sv: Stanley (10).

DP: Brd 3, TB 1.

LOB: Brd 8, TB 8.

2B: Brd-Mitch Caster 2, Curtis Restko; TB-Chris Curley, Tim Palincsar.

S: TB-Ryan Terry.

T: 2:28

A: 718