Catfish 13, Asheville 10

The Catfish bats continued to be hot this afternoon as they pounded 14 hits on the way to a 13-10 victory over the Asheville Tourists (Rockies). The win guarantees at least a split in the series, with a chance to win it outright tomorrow.

The two players the wife and I sponsor, Dan Batz and Lucas May, both played today. Dan had a base hit, while Luke had a double, a homer, and scored twice.

Despite Asheville's three errors, all but one of the Catfish runs were earned.

Tomorrow at noon, the Catfish wind up the series with Asheville, then an off day, then four games at Greenville.

From the Columbus Catfish:

Travis Denker Hits Three HR in Catfish 13-10 Win Over Asheville
Second Time in 2005 Denker Has Gone Deep Three Times in One Game to Tie a Columbus Baseball Record

ASHEVILLE, NC—2B Travis Denker hit a two-run HR in the fifth, a grand-slam in the sixth, and a solo shot in the eighth inning leading the Catfish to a 13-10 victory in Asheville over the Tourists.  Denker has now hit three HR in a game twice this season, the first Columbus Baseball Player since Clay Parrish in 1927 to accomplish the feat twice in one year.   The Catfish (36-49, 8-8 2nd Half) have blasted 27 runs on 35 hits to win the last two games over Asheville (45-41, 7-10) and even their road-trip record at 3-3.  LHP Scott Elbert earned the victory for Columbus with five innings on the hill striking out six, while RF Ryan Carter and SS Lucas May homered for Columbus in the win. Columbus and Asheville combined for 10 HR in the game, tying a South Atlantic League record, last set by Charleston and Greensboro in May of 2004.

Appropriately, Carter led off the game with a solo HR to left.  Asheville's Joe Koshansky hit his 20th HR of the season to tie the game at one in the bottom of the first.  Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, the Catfish scored five times to take the lead, with May leading off with a solo HR and Denker hitting his first round-tripper of the game, a two-run HR to cap the scoring.  In the sixth, the Fish took a 12-2 lead with six runs including four on Denker's grand-slam.  Denker hit his third HR of the game in the eighth inning, a solo shot to left.

Asheville scored four times in the seventh, once in the eighth, and three times in the ninth to rally to within three.  RF Kyle Wilson hit a solo HR in the eighth and a three-run shot in the ninth for Asheville, but Catfish RHP Kyle Wilson got out of the ninth to preserve the second straight win for the Fish.  The Catfish have hit eight HR in the series while Asheville has hit 11 in three games.  The Catfish win gives them the season-series victory over the Tourists.  Tomorrow the Fish and Tourists wrap the four-game series at 12:00 PM.  The game can be heard on 1460 AM WHAL in Columbus.