(Thunder Bay, Ontario) — The Thunder Bay Border Cats captured their second Northwoods League Championship in franchise history with a thrilling 6-5 victory of the Madison Mallards Sunday night. The Border Cats win the best-of-three series two games to one.

The teams traded three-run innings late in the ballgame with Madison coming back from a 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead in the seventh. They added a run on a Trent Soares (Fresno State) home run in the eighth to expand the lead to 5-3.

Thunder Bay has had late inning magic many times throughout the season, especially at Port Arthur Stadium, and Derek Wiley (Belmont) was the magician Sunday. Wiley, already having hit a two-run home run in the game, capped off a three-run eighth inning by driving in a run and having another score on his infield single. Madison shortstop Brandon Wikoff (Illinois) threw errantly to first base on Wiley’s ground ball in the eighth. Wiley was given an RBI infield single but a second run scored on the bad throw before Wiley was tagged out at second to end the inning.

Jimmy Stanley (Belmont) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get his second save of the postseason. Northwoods League batting champion Rob Lyerly (Charlotte) flew out to centerfield to end the game.

Brett Holland (Texas-Tyler) earned the win out of relief to move to 2-0 in the playoffs. Matt Jansen (Purdue) pitched out of relief and allowed the three runs (two earned) in the eighth to get tagged with the loss. He went 1-1 in the playoffs.

Click here to listen to the “Daily Recap” for a descriptive audio recap of the game.

See the box score and full play-by-play of the game by clicking here.

Read the Madison Mallards recap of the game here.

Madison beat Thunder Bay 4-3 Saturday night to even the Northwoods League Championship Series at one game apiece. Andy Deain (Northern Illinois) struck out Nate Woods (Belmont) with the potential game tying run at third base to end the game.

Thunder Bay opened the scoring in the first inning on the first of two solo home runs in the game for Jon Kelton (Alabama). His second one came in the sixth to cut the Border Cats deficit to 4-2.

Madison built their lead with a pair of two-run innings in the third and fifth.  The Mallards scored runs in the third inning on a dropped fly ball by Kelton in left field and on and RBI single by Josh Groves (Wisconsin-Milwaukee). The runs in the fifth came across on a wild pitch and a bases loaded walk. Thunder Bay pushed across their third run of the game in the eighth inning on a Ryan Terry (Monmouth) single.

Down one run in the ninth, Thunder Bay nearly pulled out another thrilling home victory. Deain walked Kelton with one out. Two wild pitches later Kelton was 90 feet away from tying the game at four. Derek Wiley (Belmont) just missed ending the series when his long fly ball down the left field line hooked foul. Moments later Wiley went down on strikes for the second out of the inning. Nate Woods (Belmont) followed with a strikeout to give Andy Deain a save and the Mallards an important game two victory. Joe Yermal (Charlotte) worked five innings and allowed four hits and two earned runs to get the win. Danny Rosenbaum (Xavier) took the loss allowing four runs, two earned, over 4.2 innings.

The series will conclude tonight with a decisive game three beginning at 7:05 Eastern from Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay. Alex Rivers (Santa Clara) will take the hill for the second time this postseason for the Mallards and oppose Michael Raymond (Belmont Abbey) of the Border Cats.

Click here to listen to the “Daily Recap”.

The Thunder Bay Border Cats won game one of the Northwoods League Championship Series at Madison against the Mallards to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three playoff. Thunder Bay won the game by a 1-0 score on Mike O’Neill’s (Southern California) eighth inning RBI double. Nate Woods (Belmont) pitched eight scoreless inning to earn the victory. Gabriel Shaw (Louisville) allowed only the one run over eight innings but was tagged with the loss. Jimmy Stanley (Belmont) was perfect in the ninth to earn the save.

Game two is tonight at 7:05 PM Eastern. Left-handed pitcher Danny Rosenbaum (Xavier) will start for the Border Cats versus righty Joe Yermal (Charlotte) for the Mallards. Rosenbaum went 3-1 during the regular season with a 1.64 earned run average. Yermal  was 4-0 with a 4.42 ERA.

Listen to the “Daily Recap” of last night’s action here.

Watch or listen to tonight’s game two here.

The Madison Mallards play host to the Thunder Bay Border Cats tonight in game one of the Northwoods League Championship Series. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 PM Central from the Duck Pond (Warner Park) in Madison. The Mallards send right-handed pitcher Gabriel Shaw (Louisville) to the mound against Border Cats righty Nate Woods (Belmont). Shaw went 2-0 during the regular season with a 4.71 ERA. Woods was 5-1 with a 2.04 ERA.

Click on the link below to watch the broadcast on livemallardsbaseball.com or to listen to it on Madison’s Sports Radio 100.5 WTLX.

http://www.northwoodsleague.tv/Schedule.aspx?Date=8_15

The videocast link should be available on page two of the broadcast listing. If you are unable to connect to the audiocast try the webcast link on www.mallardsbaseball.com.

Click here for live stats of game one.

Both Thunder Bay and Madison swept their best-of-three divisional series Wednesday with a home victory. Thunder Bay scored three runs in the ninth for a dramatic 4-3 win over Mankato. Madison exploded in the middle innings for a 14-5 victory against Wisconsin.

Ryan Terry (Monmouth) was the star of the game for Thunder Bay, first homering in the eighth inning to bring the Border Cats deficit to 3-1. In the ninth, he drove in a run with a single to make it 3-2. The next batter Connor Lind (Furman) reached on an infield single on a high chopper to MoonDog shortstop Bobby Munoz (Saint Leo). Munoz muffed the ball and then threw it away on a last moment effort to get Lind out a first, which would have ended the game. Instead Terry came all the way around, scoring from first, and ended the game in the Border Cats favor. Jimmy Reyes (Elon) struck out 11 for Mankato in 7.1 innings on the hill. He allowed just four hits and one run. Mike Lobacz (Elon) hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning for Mankato.

Wisconsin took the first lead in the game at Madison, 1-0 in the second inning, but Madison struck quickly and often to pull away in this one. Drew Martin (NC State) hit a two-run homer in the second. Luke Stewart (Alabama-Birmingham) launched a solo homer in the fourth, his second of the series, to give the Mallards a 4-2 lead. After Wisconsin brought their deficit to 5-4 in the sixth inning the Mallards put six runs on the board in the bottom of the frame to take an 11-4 lead. It was a very balanced attack by Madison with four players scoring at least two runs and four players driving in exactly two runs. Aaron Bray (Charlotte) scored three times out of the leadoff spot and was the only Mallard with three hits in the game; they totaled 15 hits as a team. A three-run seventh inning completed the scoring at 14-5.

NWL Championship Series Schedule
Thunder Bay at Madison, Friday, 7:05 PM Central
Madison at Thunder Bay, Saturday, 7:05 PM Eastern
Madison at Thunder Bay, Sunday, 7:05 PM Eastern, if necessary

Madison Mallards NWL Championship Series Media Notes and Preview

Madison’s Alex Rivers (Santa Clara) flirted with a no-hitter Tuesday in leading the Mallards to a 4-1 series opening victory against the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Rivers [pictured] didn’t allow a hit until there was one out in the eighth inning when Terrance Jackson (North Central) got to him with a sharp single to left field. He allowed two hits in all and left the game after pitching 7.2 innings and striking out ten. Phil Gosselin (Virginia) hit a three-run home run in the third inning to open the scoring for Madison. Luke Stewart (Alabama-Birmingham) followed with a solo shot in the fourth. Jake Waddle (Luther) tripled in the eighth inning to knock home the only Woodchuck run. (photo #1 credit Jim Addis, Madison Mallards, photos #2-4 credit Ricky Bassman)

Thunder Bay rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to win game one of the North Divisional Playoffs 5-3 at Mankato. Derek Wiley (Belmont) drove in the two runs with a single. Thunder Bay had led by a run in the eighth inning until Kyle Knudson (Minnesota) drove in a run with an infield single. Seth Frankoff (UNC-Wilmington) went 5.1 innings and didn’t allow an earned run for Thunder Bay. Brendan Lafferty (UCLA) tossed seven innings for Mankato allowing just one earned run and three hits while striking out eight. Jimmy Stanley (Belmont) picked up the win out of relief for Thunder Bay.

Madison Mallards at Wisconsin Woodchucks, 6:35 PM Central
Alex Rivers (4-1, 3.68) vs. Kyle Gumieny (6-0, 3.24)
RHP, SO, Santa Clara — RHP, SO, Lamar CC

Thunder Bay Border Cats at Mankato MoonDogs, 7:05 PM Central
Seth Frankoff (3-1, 2.08) vs. Brendan Lafferty (4-1, 3.93)
RHP, SO, UNC-Wlimington — LHP, JR, UCLA

The La Crosse Loggers took 2 of 3 from the Wisconsin Woodchucks but the one win was enough to clinch the South division and a spot to play the Madison Mallards in the playoffs.

No coin flip necessary. Thunder Bay won and Wisconsin lost Monday to resolve that matter naturally. Mankato also lost which places the final piece of the puzzle. Here’s what the schedule looks like:

North Divisional Playoffs
Thunder Bay at Mankato, Tuesday, 7:05 PM Central
Mankato at Thunder Bay, Wednesday, 7:05 PM Eastern
Mankato at Thunder Bay, Thursday, 7:05 PM Eastern, if necessary

South Divisional Playoffs
Madison at Wisconsin, Tuesday, 6:35 PM Central, in Wausau
Wisconsin at Madison, Wednesday, 7:05 PM Central
Madison at Wisconsin, Thursday, 6:35 PM Central, if necessary

NWL Championship Series
This is to be determined, but home field priority is set. The higher ranked team of the two will host games two and three on Saturday and Sunday. The lower ranked team will host game one on Friday.

1. Thunder Bay Border Cats, 42-26, 2nd Half North Division Champion
2. Wisconsin Woodchucks, 41-27, 2nd Half South Division Champion
3. Mankato MoonDogs, 41-27, 1st Half North Division Champion
4. Madison Mallards, 34-34, 1st Half South Division Champion

If Thunder Bay and Wisconsin finish with the same result in tonight’s games (both win or both lose) there will be a coin flip to determine which team would have home field advantage if the two meet in the Northwoods League Championship Series. The coin flip will be broadcasted live on the internet via a video webstream beginning at 11 o’clock a.m. central through the Rochester Honkers video webcast page (the Northwoods League office is based in Rochester, MN).

A coin flip would be necessary because they will have identical records in all of the tiebreaking categories. The categories are winning percentage (they enter the night with identical 41-26 overall records with a .612 winning percentage), head to head (they were 2-2 against each other this season), intradivisional record (both enter the night at 31-16 and are both playing a divisional oppenent), and coin flip.

Mankato is also 41-26 entering the night but they won’t factor into the coin flip. Mankato didn’t play Wisconsin this season so neither team has an advantage there. However, Mankato’s record within their own division is slightly worse at 30-18 and they are playing out of the division tonight. Therefore, they lose the tiebreaker to Wisconsin and will only have home field advantage over the Woodchucks in a potential championship series if Mankato wins tonight against Waterloo and Wisconsin loses to La Crosse.

Mankato and Thunder Bay would both have home field advantage over Madison in a potential championship series.