Catfish allow 'Kings to rally for home win

Cape Catfish hitter JJ Williams connects with a pitch in a recent game at Capaha Field. Williams led Cape with a pair of hits on Saturday in a road loss at Clinton.

Tony Capobianco ~ Tcapobianco@semoball.com

Earlier in this summer baseball season, the Cape Catfish struggled mightily in closing out games in which they held early leads.

That hasn’t been an issue of late, but it was on Saturday, as Cape couldn’t hold a 5-2 lead at Clinton and eventually fell for the seventh time this month by one run, this time 6-5.

“Water finds its level,” first-year Catfish manager Phil Butler said earlier this season of his team’s narrow losses. “We know these guys can hit. It is just a matter of settling in and getting used to playing here and in summer baseball.”

Butler’s guys struggled to hit on Saturday, as the LumberKings (12-8) belted out 12 hits and the Catfish (10-12) could only muster four.

Cape took a quick 1-0 lead in its initial at-bat before Clinton answered with a couple of runs in the second inning off of Cape starter Blake Kincaid.

The Catfish bounced back with four runs in the third inning, which began with a lead-off walk drawn by former Jackson High standout Henley Parker.

Bryce Cannon then moved Parker to third base with a double before Parker scored courtesy of a fielder’s choice by JJ Williams.

Cannon scored on an error by the Clinton catcher, which allowed Williams to steal second and advance to third.

Williams then came home on an RBI grounder by Alex Kowalski.

Easton Morre was hit by a pitch and eventually came home on an RBI single from former Jackson High star Lane Crowden.

The Catfish tallied four runs on two hits in the inning.

Each of the three Catfish arms allowed two earned runs while Kincaid struck out four in four innings of work.

Williams paced the Cape offense with two hits, a run scored, and an RBI while Parker (two runs, two walks), Cannon (one hit, one run, one walk), Kowalski (two RBI), Moore (one run, two walks), and Crowden (one hit, one RBI) also were productive offensively.