Kannapolis cleans Catfish' clock

After edging the Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) two nights straight, tonight's game wasn't close.

Kannapolis beat the Columbus Catfish 6-1, behind the power of Mark Fleisher, who hit two home runs and drove in 5 runs.

Catfish beat Kannapolis again

Another late-inning win for the Columbus Catfish tonight.

Last night, a walk-off home in the bottom of the 9th gave the Catfish a win. Tonight, a run in the 8th broke a tie, giving the Catfish a win.

That's got to break the hearts of the Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox). But the fact that tonight's inning run came on a balk ... well ... that's got to really hurt.

Regardless of how the run scored, it proved to be the winning run in the Catfish 5-4 win.

Fronk homer in the 9th powers Catfish to win

The Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox) failed to live up to their nickname tonight.

The Columbus Catfish never trailed, but did need 9th inning heroics to secure the win tonight, as they beat Kannapolis, 7-5, opening a 4-game series and 8-game home stand.

Catfish Beat Kannapolis

The Columbus Catfish beat the Kannapolis Intimidators for the 4th time in 5 meetings this season with a 6-5 win in the opener of a 4-game series today.

RF Lucas May hit another 2-run homer ... his third this week ... 2B Travis Denker hit a 2-run shot ... while SS Ivan De Jesus went 3-for-4 and CF Bridger Hunt and 3B Juan Rivera had multi-hit games en route to the win.

The Catfish took a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to 2B Travis Denker's seventh home run. Kannapolis responded with three runs in the top of the third inning and added a fourth run in the fifth frame.

SS Ivan DeJesus led off the sixth inning with a double to right field and moved to third base on a wild pitch. Denker followed with a ground ball to third base. 3B Juan Camacho made a play for DeJesus at the plate, but the throw sailed high, making it 4-3 and moving Denker to second base. RF Lucas May then slammed his 14th home run to give Columbus a 5-4 lead. May has three home runs and six RBI in the last three games.

The Intimidators tied the scored at 5-5 in the top of the seventh inning, but Columbus regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. With two outs CF Bridger Hunt hit a ground ball to second base, but hustled down the line for an infield single. He them moved to second base on a wild pitch. DeJesus promptly knocked him in for a 6-5 lead, the eventual final score.

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James McDonald pitched 6-1/3 innings of 5-hit ball, allowing 3 earned runs (5 total). Close Ramon Troncoso was perfect in the 9th in his relief of Matt Gomez de Segura, who held Kannapolis scoreless during his stint.

Another late afternoon game Wednesday for the Catfish. A light pole near 3rd base still isn't working ... forcing the team to make the most of the sunlight available. The team is making the most of it, with a "Wet Your Whistle" promotion ... dollar beer and dollar Pepsi on Wednesday.