Catfish blow out RiverDragons in Alton
ALTON, ILL – Sunday June 29th, 2025 – Reagan Howe
Hayden Nazarenus (Western Kentucky University) stole the spotlight Sunday evening as the Catfish hit the road to face the Alton River Dragons. Nazarenus displayed his skillset by hitting not one, not two, but three homers throughout the game including a grand slam in the top of the second inning.
The Catfish hit the road Sunday to take on the River Dragons and the guests treated the home team rudely from the beginning of the game until the very end which ended is a 17-0 route.
Everyone was able to get the bats moving as the Fish totaled for 11 hits, drew nine walks and held the River Dragons to just three hits on the night. Nazarenus hit a Grand Slam in the top of the second, one of three homers he’d hit on the day and the Fish never looked back.
Naz hit his second homer of the night in the top of the fifth to make it 7-0 You’d think it was deja vu as Alton made the same mistake in the seventh inning when Nazarenus stepped up to the plate with runners on second and third and hit his final homer of the night. All together the Catfish scored a whopping 8 runs in the seventh inning alone to cap off the short game route. Nazarenus tied a Catfish record with three Home Runs and set a franchise record with nine rbi’s in a single game.
The Fish showed off their speed by combining for a total of 9 stolen bases throughout the victory with Caleb Champion (Southeast Missouri University) and Cooper Newsome and Nathan Bowie (Harding University) all capping off the night with two steals a piece. Nazarenus wasn’t the only fish that was hot as Moises Rosario (Oakland City University) finished the evening going two for three with three RBIs.
Lost in all Nazarenus’ big game was the incredible performance on the mound by the combined efforts of Kam Dohogne (Columbia College) and Raynard Grace (Southeast Missouri State University) who each got three of their own strikeouts. Dohogne pitched the first six innings allowing no runs on three hits before Grace cleaned up the 7th. The two Catfish pitchers never surrended a free pass.