Cape Catfish Prospect League Champions once again
Cape Girardeau, MO – Thursday August 7th, 2025
Catfish win their 2nd title in six seasons (pictured-Glenn Campbell, President–Colin Butkiewicz, Asst Coach–Gary McClure, Head Coach–Wade Richardson, Asst Coach–Mark Hogan, GM
For the 2nd time in their six year existence, the Cape Catfish are Prospect League Champions. They have been to the playoffs five of six years, they’ve been in the Championship series three of six years and now they are two time Prospect League Champions.
Thursday night in front of the biggest crowd in Catfish history, close to 1600 people packed the friendly confines of Capaha Field (an additional 100+ on cherry hill) to watch game two of the best of three game series between the Eastern Champs the Lafayette Aviators and the Western Champs the Cape Catfish. The Catfish had won game one Tuesday in Lafayette by a score of 7-3 and were looking to sweep the series.
The Catfish starter was Sean Williams (Seton Hill University), the soon to be sophomore who had a brilliant start in the opening round of the playoffs vs the Hoots. Williams went six strong giving up two earned on four hits. Tonight he wasn’t quite as sharp but he was just as effective giving up one earned over five innings to give his team a great chance to finish it up. “I was a little nervous tonight,” said Williams. “I didn’t have my best stuff but I knew if I could keep it close then we had a chance with how well our bullpen has been pitching.” he was correct.
The Catfish jumped ahead early with a solo opposite field shot in the 2nd by Brett Vondohlen(Middle Tennessee Sate). Vondohlen had been hot as of late and hit an 0-2 pitch into the right centerfield Mercy Home Run deck. Lafayette would bounce back with a run in the top of the 3rd to tie the score but the Catfish would take the lead again with a run in the bottom of the 4th. Tank Sims(Southeast Missouri State) who was 4-4 on the night singled in Matthew Cash(Jacksonville State) with two outs in the bottom of the 4th. That’s the closest the game would be.
Williams left after five innings and in came the incredibly talented lefty from Southern University, Ranard Grace. Grace had just signed a few weeks ago to play at Southeast Missouri State and the coaches in attendance had to love what they saw. Grace pitched a scoreless 6th and 7th and the Catfish were able to tack on two more runs in the bottom of the 6th. It was Tank Sims once again coming through with a one out bases loaded single to drive in Matthew Cash and Cooper Newsom(Harding University) to make it 4-1 Catfish.
As head coach Gary McClure had done in every single playoff game, in came Trey O’Neil(University of Southern Indiana) to pitch the 8th. O’Neil hadn’t given up a run in July but would get touched for one this night. The catfish would tack on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th when Caleb Niehaus(Indiana State Univeristy) would triple home Tank Sims and then Caleb Champion(Southeast Missouri State) would single in Niehaus and the Fish were feeling it.
Walker Brodt(Winthrop University), nicknamed “The Finisher” strolled in from the bullpen to complete the sweep. He did just that as he got the final out on a pop fly to centerfield. Champion gloved it and the celebration began. “We’ve had really good teams all three seasons I’ve been here,” said Catfish President Glenn Campbell. “We just couldn’t finish it off. It’s hard to win this title but this years team was good from the word go and they proved they were absolutely the best team in this league.”
“This team came to play each and every night,” said head coach Gary McClure. “These guys deserve this as they battled through injuries and the dog days of July and they were focused on one thing and that’s winning this title.”
What a summer for a group of young men who many had never been to Missouri let alone Cape Girardeau. They came to the Catfish, the town fell in love with them and they gave everything they had to the team and the fans. In the end, the best team actually won. The Catfish went 40-20 with the victory tonight, 3rd time in franchise history the Fish have won 40 games.
“I heard a few fans say we’re a dynasty,” said GM Mark Hogan. “I’m not sure I can argue with that. We’ve been consistent every season and we’ve been to three and won two in just a short time.” On this night, no one really cared about all of that, what they cared about was getting out there on the field with this team after the celebration and pictures were done so they could hug their summer heros one last time before they head home. That’s a wrap on an incredible summer of baseball at Capaha Field. Thank you fans and thank you sponsors! Good Bye until 2026!