The Catfish Reel.
Your Catfish Baseball News.

Alton, Ill., June 12 – Every Catfish batter had at least one hit in Cape’s 12-2 win over the Alton River Dragons Sunday night. The win evened Cape’s record at 6-6 and pulled the second-place Catfish to within two games of first-place River Dragons (8-4) in the Prospect League’s Prairie Land Division.

Alton missed an opportunity to score early, loading the bases with no one out in the first inning, but a play at the plate erased a runner attempting to score on a fly ball out to Catfish center fielder Christopher Hall (Florida State College at Jacksonville). The inning ended on a ground ball out to starting pitcher Griffin Lohman (Purdue).

The Catfish sent eight batters to the plate in the second inning and scored three runs on five hits, including doubles by Kolten Poorman (Three Rivers Community College) and Cam Hill (Purdue).

Alton scored its two runs in the third inning on a walk, a double, a balk and a ground out, but the Catfish answered with single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, two in the eighth, and four more in the ninth.

Cape pounded out 19 hits and benefitted from two walks and a pair of Alton errors. Hall had four hits in his six plate appearances, scored twice and had two RBI. Hill and Cam Careswell (University of Missouri) each had three hits and two runs batted in while Catfish designated hitter Dante Zamudio (West Virginia State University) drove in three runs. Zamudio also pitched the ninth inning for the Catfish.

The Catfish were 10 for 21 with runners in scoring position while the River Dragons were just two for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Lohman pitched five innings to earn the win, evening his record at 1-1. Alton starter Adam Stilts took the loss, also bringing his record to 1-1.

Cape field manager Stephen Larkin said he was pleased with his team’s offense and pitching. However, with three fielding miscues, he said there’s still room for improvement in the field.

“It was a good game with the bats,” he said. “Our pitching and base running were also aggressive, but we still need a game with zero errors. We’re getting there.”

The Catfish have an open date Monday, their first of the season, and will return to Cape Girardeau’s Capaha Field Tuesday for a doubleheader against the Quincy Gems. Starting time for the first game is 5:35 p.m. Tickets are available online at www.capecatfish.com.