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Your Catfish Baseball News.

MARION, IL (June 11) – The Cape Catfish extended their season-opening winning streak to double-digits (10) with a double-digit win (11-1) over the Thrillville Thrillbillies Sunday night in Marion.

It was the second time Cape has faced the Thrillbillies this season. In their first meeting last Sunday the Catfish defeated the Thrillbillies 12-1.

Sunday night’s victory marked the sixth time since the season started a week-and-a-half ago that the Catfish have won by at least 10 runs and the fifth seven-inning game the Fish have won under the Prospect League’s 10-run “mercy rule.”

At 10-0, the Catfish are the only undefeated team in the 17-team league and they enjoy a 4 1/2 game lead over the second-place Thrillbillies in the league’s Prairie Land Division.

As they’ve done in every game this season, the Catfish took an early lead, this time in the first inning when center fielder Chris Hall from Lincoln Memorial University drew a lead off walk, advanced to second and third on a pair of groundball outs, and then scored on a passed ball thrown by Marion starting pitcher Hunter Ralls who pitches for Southeast Missouri State during the school year.

Marion answered with a run in the bottom of the first when Thrillville center fielder Jackson McCoy (John A. Logan College) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The game remained tied 1-1 until the top of the third when Catfish shortstop Jude Putz from Florida State University hit a two-run triple sparking a four-run rally and giving the Fish a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Cape added two more runs in the sixth frame when second baseman Kevin McCarthy (Tennessee Southern) singled and the next batter, designated hitter Kolten Poorman from Eastern Illinois University, blasted his first home run of the season into the left field bleachers making the score 7-1.

The Catfish scored their final four runs in the top of the seventh thanks to an RBI double down the left field line by first baseman Kaden Jeffries (Metropolitan Community College), a pair of wild pitches, and a RBI credited to Hall when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Catfish starting pitcher Bryce Morgan (Mineral Area College) worked three innings, allowing four hits and one run while striking out two and walking one. Reliever Jorge Romero from Los Angeles Pierce College, making his first appearance of the season, was credited with the win, pitching two innings while allowing one higt and striking out two Thrillbillies.

Ralls was the losing pitcher and is now 1-1.

The Catfish ended the game with a line score of 11 runs on nine hits while the Thrillbillies scored one run and had five hits. Cape had two errors while Marion had one fielding miscue.

In their 10 wins, the Catfish have now scored 121 runs, an average of 12.1 runs per game. They have scored 10 or more runs in eight of their 10 victories and lead the Prospect League in several offensive categories including runs (121), team batting average (.394), hits (137), runs batted in (111), total bases (201), extra base hits (40), and triples (8). Defensively, they have allowed opponents to score a total of just 34 runs in 10 games, or 3.4 runs per game, and their pitching staff has the second-lowest earned run average in the league at 3.62.

The Catfish return to Capaha Field Monday night to take on the Thrillbillies in a 6:35 p.m. game. Tickets are available through the Catfish website, www.capecatfish.com.