By WRBL Staff
Riverdogs Media Relations
Charleston, SC - Columbus pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of three Charleston errors as the Catfish scaled back the RiverDogs, 6-3, in South Atlantic League action Friday night in front of 5,034 fans at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.Riverdogs Media Relations
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Stumble It!The Catfish snap a four-game losing skid at the hands of Charleston and improve to 10-12 on the season. The first-place RiverDogs drop their first home game of the 2008 campaign and fall to 18-4. Charleston had won 10 consecutive games at Riley Park dating back to the final game of last year.
Columbus DH Greg Sexton had three hits while four others had a pair of knocks for the Catfish, which beat Charleston for only the second time in their six meetings this season.
For the second consecutive night, Columbus took an early 2-0 lead, this time in the first inning. Leadoff batter Emeel Salem reached on an error and was followed by Joey Callender’s single up the middle. The bases were then loaded on Maiko Loyola’s bunt single, and Sexton drove home two runs with a single to center to hand the visitors a quick 2-0 lead.
Columbus added their third run of the night in the sixth when Omar Luna reached on an infield single, advanced to second on a stolen base, and scored on Callender’s RBI of the single to left.
Charleston could not muster a hit off of Columbus starter Alex Cobb (3-2) until the sixth when Austin Krum singled to left to open the inning. Krum moved to second on Abraham Almonte’s groundout to first, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Krum was stranded on third base after reliever Travis Barnett fanned both Justin Snyder and Bradley Suttle to quell the rally.
The Catfish scored their fourth run in the seventh with back-to-back doubles by Sexton and Steve Vogt against RiverDogs reliever Gabe Medina.
Charleston, which had entered the contest with professional baseball’s second-best record and batting a league-high .296, rallied for a pair of runs in the eighth against Barnett.
Wady Rufino led with a single to left and Carmen Angelini lined a shot to Luna, the shortstop, who threw wildly into the first base stands, sending Rufino to third. Krum then doubled Rufino home and Justin Snyder later smacked a run-scoring single to close the gap to 4-2.
Columbus, which stranded 13 runners on the night, added two insurance runs in the ninth – both unearned – as the RiverDogs made two errors with Medina still on the mound.
The hosts rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth as Jesus Montero led off with an infield single and Taylor Holiday pinch-ran for him. Dave Williams followed with a bloop single to right, and Brandon Laird advanced the runners with a groundout to shortstop. Rufino drove home the RiverDogs’ third run with a RBI groundout to second base.
Krum led Charleston offensively with two of the team’s six hits.
Joining Sexton with multiple hits for the Catfish were Callender, Loyola, Mike McCormick and Luna with two each.
Charleston starter Lance Pendleton suffered the loss, evening his record to 1-1, as he went only three innings and surrendered two runs on four hits.
Travis Risser picked up his fifth save of the season for Columbus, as he pitched the final 1.1 innings. Barnett also pitched well for the Catfish, as he threw the middle 2.1 frames and fanned five while not issuing a walk.
Game three of this four-game series is set for Saturday at 7:05 p.m. with the RiverDogs starting righty Noel Castillo (3-0, 2.28 ERA) on the mound while the Catfish will throw southpaw Glenn Gibson (0-3, 8.64 ERA).
