Catfish drop 2nd game of series to Hickory

They didn't dig themselves a deep hole, just one deep enough to not be able to crawl out of. And every time they nearly got out, they dug a little deeper.

The Columbus Catfish fell behind early to the Hickory Crawdads (Pirates) early, and couldn't catch up, losing 7-5 tonight.

Hickory put up a run in the 2nd and two in the 4th, to go up 3-0.

The Catfish narrowed the gap in the bottom of the 4th. LF Reid Fronk drove in SS Shawn O'Malley on a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 3-1.

The 5th inning saw CF Emeel Salem drove in C Steven Vogt on an bunt single, making it 3-2.

After Hickory got a run in the 6th, the Catfish narrowed the gap again in the bottom of the inning when 1B Henry Wrigley singled in Sexton.

Three Hickory runs in the 7th put the visitors up 7-3, but the Catfish got 2 back in the bottom of the inning. Sexton singled in Salem, and Fronk drove in O'Malley on a sacrifice fly, bringing the Catfish to within 2, 7-5.

Starter Glenn Gibson went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits, striking out 2. Chris Fessler went 1-2/3 innings, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits. Jose Mejias went the rest of the way, allowing 2 hits.

Salem, Sexton, Loyola and Vogt each had a pair of hits for the Catfish. Salem stole his league-leading 24th base, and O'Malley extended his team-leading 8-game hitting streak. O'Malley has hit in every game he's played for the Catfish since being called up.

Game 3 of the series is Wednesday night.