Big inning leads to Catfish win

Saturday night, a 6-run 4th inning helped propel the Columbus Catfish to a win.

Sunday afternoon, a 7-run 4th made the difference.

The Catfish won their 3rd straight game, a 9-2 decision over the Asheville Tourists.

Like the previous night, Asheville had an early lead before the Catfish came back strong in the 4th inning.

With the Tourists leading 2-1 on Brian Lapin's third inning home run - his third in as many days - 12 Catfish hitters came to the plate in the top of the fourth off Bruce Billings (8-9) and for the second day in a row, a Catfish player hit a grand slam in the fourth inning. Yesterday it was Maiko Loyola, today it was cleanup hitter Greg Sexton who took a Billings offering over the left field fence with two outs to stretch the Columbus lead to 8-2. Previously in the inning, the Catfish had picked up runs on RBI singles by Seth Dhaenens and Loyola and another on a groundout by Shawn O'Malley.

Catfish starter Jeremy Hall took his 7th win. Reliever John Baird pitched the final 3 innings and took his 1st save for the Catfish, his 3rd of the season.

The win guarantees the Catfish no worse than a split of the series. The final two games against Asheville are Monday and Tuesday nights.