Catfish Fall To Hickory

The Catfish, despite pounding out 10 hits, fell to the Hickory Crawdads (Pirates) tonight 6-3. Two double-plays and leaving 7 on base in scoring position provided the difference in the game.

Both our players were active tonight. While Dan Batz was hitless, he still has the second-highest batting average on the team. Lucas May had two hits and brought his average up a few points.

More from the Columbus Catfish:

Hickory's Three-Run Fifth Sinks Catfish 6-3
3B Blake DeWitt Hits 9th HR in Catfish Loss

HICKORY, NC—Hickory 1B Mike Carlin had four hits on his 24th birthday including a two-run HR in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Hickory Crawdads upended the Catfish 6-3 at L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory. 3B Blake DeWitt hit a two-run HR, his ninth of the season in the Catfish loss. 2B Travis Denker had hits in his first three AB tonight, as he has reached base 17 times in his last 20 plate appearances. The Fish have dropped two of three games in the series but hold a 4-3 advantage in the season series, which wraps tomorrow in Hickory. The Catfish drop back under .500 in the second half to 6-7 while Hickory improves to a 9-4.

Denker singled with two outs in the first inning against Hickory starter Julio Guerrero to extend his hitting streak to seven games, bringing up DeWitt. DeWitt's two-run blast cleared the right-center field wall, giving Columbus a 2-0 lead. DeWitt now leads the club with 50 RBI. Hickory took the lead with three runs n the bottom of the second against Catfish starter RHP Chris Malone, but a RF Ryan Russ RBI groundout in the third for the Fish tied the game at three.

Hickory C Neil Walker hit a sac fly in the fifth to give the Crawdads a 4-3 advantage, and Carlin delivered two batters later with a two-run HR to left center to make it 6-3 Dads. Despite three shutout innings from the bullpen, the Catfish could not rally tonight in the 6-3 defeat. LHP Wesley Wright faced six Hickory batters, retiring all of them while striking out five in succession to start his outing.

Tomorrow the Catfish and Crawdads play the final game of a four-game series tomorrow at 7:00 PM. The Catfish will start RHP Zach Hammes (2-3, 4.27 ERA) against Hickory RHP Yoann Torrealba (2-1, 2.35 ERA).