Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Catfish Split With Rome

Go Catfish!The Catfish returned from a long road trip and an extra night off due to weather by splitting a doubleheader with the Rome Braves, dropping the first game 10-6 and winning the nightcap 4-1.

After falling behind early, the Catfish scratched back from a 10-2 deficit to close the gap, but couldn't complete the deal in the first game. In that game, our player, Dan Batz, was 0-for-1 with a run scored and an RBI.

Jumping out to an early lead in the second game, the Catfish held on thanks to a combined two-hitter to shut down Rome. In that game, Dan was 0-for-2 with a run scored.

Our other player, Lucas May, is not with the team, having been sent to Vero Beach to rehab his injured shoulder. We don't know if he'll be back this season or not.

With the split, the Catfish remain in third place in the second half, three games behind division leader Kannapolis with 18 games left.

One note of interest (to me anyway): Catfish pitcher Scott Elbert struck out 12 batters in five innings, a pace that could have tied or broken the all-time Columbus record for strikeouts in a game. The Columbus, Georgia record is 16, and was set last year in a seven-inning game.

More from the Columbus Catfish:

Scott Elbert’s 12 Strikeout Performance Helps Catfish to Doubleheader Split with Rome
Fish Fall in Game 1 10-6, Win 4-1 with Elbert Fanning 12 in Nightcap

COLUMBUS, GA—LHP Scott Elbert struck out a season-best 12 batters tonight in the second game of a doubleheader, leading the Catfish to a 4-1 Catfish win after they fell 10-6 to the Rome Braves in the opener. Elbert gave up only a bunt single on the first pitch of the game while shutting down the Braves on 73 pitches in five innings. DH Brandon Carter had a bases-clearing double to give the Catfish a cushion and a 4-1 win in the nightcap. Rome scored six runs in the first two innings of the first game en route to a 10-6 victory. With the split, the Catfish remain three games out of first with 18 left to play at 26-24 in the second half (54-65 overall) with Rome falling back to .500 at 26-26 in the second half (66-55 overall).

Rome took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning of the first-game against Catfish RHP Steve Nelson. Four Braves hits and two walks gave the Braves the early lead, while the Catfish took a small bite out of the lead in the bottom of the inning with a 3B Blake DeWitt solo HR, his 11th of the season. Rome tacked on two runs in the second and two more in the fourth against Nelson when Brave RF Ivan Terrazas homered to right, giving him four RBI in the game. Rome had a 10-2 lead in the seventh, but three walks and a hit batter gave the Catfish a run to cut the lead to 10-3. 2B Justin Crist and DeWitt had RBI singles to make it 10-5 and DH Chris Westervelt grounded out to bring the Catfish to within four but the Fish got no closer in the doubleheader’s first game.

In the second game, Elbert put the first two runners on base in the first but got out of it with two strikeouts and struck out the side in the second. In the bottom of the second, LF Ryan Carter drove home RF Sergio Pedrozawith a single to center to make it 1-0 Columbus. Elbert struck out 12 of the 18 batters he faced tonight, striking out the side twice in the game, including his final outs in the fifth. In the bottom of the fourth, two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases and set up DH Brandon Carter’s three-run double. RHP Albenis Castillo allowed one run on a RF Matt Young HR in the sixth but finished the night for the Catfish on the hill in the 4-1 win.

Tomorrow RHP Jarod Plummer (3-1, 3.54 ERA) takes the mound at Golden Park at 6:00 PM for the third game of a four-game series with the Braves.

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