Catfish Win In The 10th, Defeating Quincy 7-6
QUINCY, IL (June 17) – It wasn’t easy, but the Cape Catfish found a way to win in extra innings Saturday night in Quincy, pushing a run across the plate in the 10th inning to defeat the Quincy Gems 7-6.
Catfish reliever Jorge Romero from Los Angeles Pierce College got the win, improving his record to 2-0. He pitched the 8th, 9th and 10th innings, allowing one run on three hits.
The Catfish are now 14-1 and own the best record in the 17-team Prospect League with a winning percentage of .933. The loss dropped the Gems to 5-12.
As they’ve done in almost every game this season, the Catfish scored first Saturday night. In the top of the 2nd inning, Cape left fielder Brody Chrisman (Purdue) led off with his fifth double of the season and Jackson High School alum Lane Crowden (Southern Indiana) looped a single into right to drive Chrisman home. Crowden swiped second base, advanced to third on a ground out to the right side, and then scored on a wild pitch by Gems starter Anthony Ribes who was making his first appearance of the season.
Cape’s lead didn’t last long, though, for in the bottom of the second Quincy took advantage of a couple of walks, a pair of hits, an RBI sacrifice fly and a throwing error by Catfish catcher Tucker Stockman (Southern Mississippi) to score three runs and take an early 3-2 lead.
Cape evened the score in the top of the third when Chrisman hit a rope into right field to score Stockman who had walked earlier in the inning.
Catfish reliever Kole Turner (Three Rivers) used seven pitches to retired the Gems in order in the 3rd and in the top of the 4th Cape manufactured a run when second baseman Kevin McCarthy (Tennessee Southern) reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to second when the next batter, Jude Putz (Florida State) walked, tagged up and took third on a deep fly ball to right by Kolten Poorman (Eastern Illinois) and scored on a wild pitch.
The Catfish added another tally in the 5th, taking a two-run lead when Crowden picked up his second RBI of the game, hitting a two-out single to right to drive in right fielder Jeff Clarke (Belmont) who had reached on a fielder’s choice earlier in the inning.
Quincy scored once in the bottom of the fifth when Gems catcher Kyle Hvidsten from Iowa Western Community College hit a one out double to left, advanced to third on a wild pitch from Turner, and scored on another wild pitch, this one thrown by Dante Zamudio (Los Angeles Pierce College) who had just entered the game.
The Gems tied the game in the 6th thanks to a two-out walk issued to designated hitter Joe Sievo (Jefferson College) who stole second and scored on a single by second baseman Jimmy Koza.
Cape regained the lead in the 7th courtesy of Chrisman’s second double of the game that scored Clarke who had walked two batters earlier.
The Fish took their one-run lead into the bottom of the 8th, but couldn’t hold it when Catfish reliever Romero walked the Gem’s lead off batter who eventually came around to score on a two-out RBI single.
Neither team scored in the 9th, but in the 10th, Belmont’s Landon Godsey (who started the inning on second base under the Prospect League’s extra innings rule) advanced to third on Chrisman’s ground out to Quincy’s first baseman. McCarthy then hit a one-out single allowing Godsey to score and giving the Fish a one-run edge, 7-6.
Quincy was unable to score in their half of the 10th with the game ending on a one-out fly ball to Chrisman in left field who then threw to second to double off the Gem’s 10th inning runner.
Each team had nine hits and while Quincy had no errors in the field, Cape managed to survive four fielding miscues.
The losing pitcher was Dawson Flowers, a junior at Northwestern State University from Brookhaven, Mississippi, He went 1 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and one run, and now has a record of 1-1.
Cape will play Quincy again Sunday (first pitch at 6:35 p.m.) before returning to Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau to take on the Thrillville Thrillbillies from Marion, Illinois, in a 6:35 p.m. game Monday. Tickets for Monday’s game, and all Catfish home games, are available online through the Catfish website, www.capecatfish.com. Monday’s game is one of two “573” nights this season when fans can purchase general admission tickets for $5.73 by using the discount code “573night” when they make their online purchase.
GAME NOTE: Catfish center fielder Chris Hall, who leads the Prospect League with a .509 batting average, has reached base safely in all 15 of Cape’s games this season via a hit (or hits), a walk (or walks) and/or an opposition fielding error. He singled and walked Saturday night to extend his streak and also stole his league-leading 18th base when he swiped second in the 7th inning. But then he was caught stealing for just the third time this season when he also tried to steal third.