For Wausau Pilot & Review
THUNDER BAY, Ontario, Canada – The red-hot Wausau Woodchucks baseball team continued its assault on the Northwoods League with their sixth-straight win, a 5-3 victory over the Thunder Bay Border Cats on Saturday night.
Clayton Burke (Central Methodist University) made his third start of the season on the mound for the Woodchucks and finished with five strikeouts across five innings pitched.
The Chucks (16-3) struck first in the top of the third, when Max Galvin (Oklahoma State) singled to bring in Logan Kreske (Wichita State) and Cutter Clawson (BYU) to take the lead 2-0.
After Thunder Bay cut Wausau’s lead in half, Kam Durnin (Wichita State) locked down second base, making a leaping throw in the bottom of the fourth to keep the score at 2-1.
The Chucks gave up the lead in the bottom of the eighth as Thunder Bay took a 3-2 lead. But in the top of the ninth, and down to their last out, Jake Berkland (Mankato State) reached on an error, allowing Christian Smith-Johnson (Corpus Christi) to score the tying run at 3-3.
On the next pitch, Isaac Webb (Corpus Christi) attempted a steal of third. An errant throw allowed him to take home, and the Chucks took the lead 4-3. A few pitches later, Jake Berkland would come home on a wild pitch to increase the lead to 5-3.
Seth Clausen (Minnesota) closed out the game for the Chucks. He struck out two to pick up his third save of the season.
The Woodchucks will play at Thunder Bay again on Sunday at 12:35 p.m., before traveling back to Wausau for an off day on Monday. The Chucks will play at Athletic Park on Tuesday against the Lakeshore Chinooks at 6:35 p.m.
