Friday, June 22, 2007

Catfish End Slide In Big Way

After dropping 5 games in a row for the first time this season, the Columbus Catfish broke out of their doldrums, plastering the Savannah Sand Gnats (Mets), 17-2.

It was the first time the Catfish had scored in double digits this season. They were the last team in the South Atlantic League to accomplish that feat. The Catfish had allowed double digits 4 times this season. The previous high score by the Catfish was 9 runs, accomplished against Rome twice this season.

In fact, the Catfish nearly scored double digits in the 8th inning alone tonight. They put up 8 runs in that inning, turning a 9-2 blowout into a 17-2 shellacking.

I won't be going into a scoring rundown. That might take all night. But the post-game fireworks weren't the only fireworks at the ballpark. You can read all about the game here. Or here. Instead, here are some interesting ... to me anyway ... items about the game.

Starter Woods Fines broke a 3-game losing streak, evening his record at 5-5. The Chapel Hill, NC native pitched 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, striking out a pair.

Reliever Neal Frontz had the unusual situation of having to keep the opposition to under 15 runs in order to earn a save. Not a bad situation, to be sure. He earned his 11th save by pitching the last 3 innings, allowing 2 hits. He also struck out two.

Offensively, every Catfish player in the game ... except the pitchers, of course ... had a hit. In fact, every Catfish batter except 1 had a hit in the 8th inning alone.

Desmond Jennings led all hitters for the night, going 4-for 6, scoring 3 times, driving in 4, and falling a triple short of the cycle. Matt Fields was 3-for-5, scoring 4 runs, driving in 4, and was also a triple shy of the cycle. Maiko Loyola and Cesar Suarez also had home runs.

Fields' homer was his 10th, tying him with Ryan Royster for the team lead. That means that the leading home run hitter on the Catfish ... one of them anyway ... is hitting just .216. His 3 hits broke him out of a 5-for-50 slump (.100) over his previous 16 games.

The Catfish are now 1-1, tied for 3rd place in the SAL Southern Division in the 2nd half. The series with Savannah continues Saturday night.

2 comments:

  1. Hey! Now those fireworks alone had to have been worth the price of admission!

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  2. They do a really good job on the fireworks here. It's certainly light-years ahead of the fireworks we used to have on the Fourth of July in my home town, that's for sure.

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