THUNDER BAY, Ontario — The way things started, you would have guessed the Madison Mallards would be heading back South across the border today, their Northwoods League title hopes done.

And the way it looked like things were going to finish, you'd probably have guessed that again.

Right-hander Joe Yermal allowed a home run to Thunder Bay's Jon Kelton in a shaky first inning, but the Mallards rebounded, then held off the Border Cats 4-3 Saturday night in front of 2,135 at Port Arthur Stadium to stay alive in the best-of-three NWL championship series.

Yermal settled down to allow two runs — both solo homers by Kelton — on four hits in five-plus innings, and Madison's bullpen finished it off with four nerve-wracking innings.

The Mallards got some help from their hosts in forcing tonight's decisive Game 3.

Both of their runs in the third inning were unearned thanks to errors by Kelton and Thunder Bay starter Danny Rosenbaum. A single by Madison first baseman Josh Groves, a former Monona Grove athlete, drove in the second run.

The Mallards — looking to avenge their 2005 title-series defeat to Thunder Bay — then pushed their advantage to 4-1 in the fifth.

Center fielder Joe Bonadonna doubled and went to third on shortstop Brandon Wikoff's sacrifice. Designated hitter Rob Lyerly followed with a strikeout, but reached first when the ball got past Border Cats catcher Dean Forthun, allowing Bonadonna to score.

Second baseman Phil Gosselin singled, and after Groves struck out, Rosenbaum walked third baseman Aaron Bray to load the bases. Dan Zehr relieved Rosenbaum, and walked catcher Eric Nielsen to put the Mallards up by three.

Thunder Bay pulled within 4-2 in the sixth on Kelton's second homer of the night, and the Border Cats had runners on first and second before Nathan Kafka — who replaced Yermal midway through the inning — struck out Forthun to end the threat.

They had two more runners on an inning later, but Madison left-hander Kyle Heim got Kelton to foul out and struck out first baseman Derek Wiley to get out of it.

Heim put runners on first and second in the eighth, but closer Andy Deain, after allowing a run-scoring single to right fielder Ryan Terry, struck out second baseman Connor Lind to end that threat.

Deain walked Kelton with one out in the ninth. But after a passed ball and wild pitch moved him to third, Deain struck out Wiley and designated hitter Nate Woods to keep the Mallards' championship hopes alive.

Right-hander Alex Rivers, who took a no-hitter into the eighth inning of Madison's playoff-opening win over Wisconsin on Tuesday night, is slated to start tonight. Rivers is 4-1 with a 3.68 ERA on the season.

He'll be opposed by Border Cats right-hander Michael Raymond, who is 5-3 with a 3.33 ERA.