East Carter grad having strong summer on mound for Catfish

The Cape Catfish have stumbled with some frequency of late, and Friday’s 9-7 loss to Quincy was just the latest example of that.

The Catfish (34-17 overall, 12-11 second half) dropped their second consecutive game and fifth in the past eight outings. With only seven games remaining before the start of the Prospect League postseason, it is imperative that Cape find the rhythm that it has possessed for most of this summer and have former East Carter High School graduate Raymond Ochoa on the mound, as the Catfish did on Friday, could help.

“He doesn’t really lose his composure,” Catfish pitching coach Jason Chavez said recently of Ochoa. “He stays pretty even keel, and he just gets after it.”

Cape used five arms on Friday, and Quincy (27-24, 14-9), who leads the Great River Division in the second half of this season, scored runs on three of those Catfish pitchers, with Ochoa and Jordan Riley having solid outings for Cape.

“He doesn’t mess around with hitters,” Chavez continued. “He goes right at them and stays smooth. Some of these guys get a little funky with their mechanics, but (Ochoa) stays really smooth.”

Friday’s outing was typical for Ochoa.

In 11 appearances this summer, he has not allowed an earned run in seven of those outings.

Against Quincy, he worked 1 2/3 innings of relief of starter Caden Bogenpohl and did not allow a hit or a run. He faced five batters and threw 14 strikes in his 20 pitches.

“I came into this summer and wanted to not worry about stats,” Ochoa said following the game. “I just wanted to have fun, get better, and just enjoy it.”

Challenging himself is not something that Ochoa has shied from since his days as a Redbird.

He began his career at Williams Baptist University, before transferring to Mineral Area College this past year.

“I wanted to get better and get to a higher level of baseball,” Ochoa said.

This spring, Ochoa threw 64 innings for the Cardinals in 16 appearances. He allowed 50 hits and 20 earned runs while striking out 71 batters and walking 39.

“I was really satisfied,” Ochoa said of his decision to play at Mineral Area. “I had a good year.”

He had a strong enough season to attract the interest of NAIA program Cumberland University, where his Catfish teammate (and former Malden grad) Dee Triplett also plays.

“I liked the coaches (at Cumberland),” Ochoa said. “I know a lot of people who are going there next year.”

In the meantime, he is trying to help Cape win its second Prospect League championship.

There are only two other pitchers in the Prospect League, who have thrown more innings than Ochoa and given up eight earned runs, as he has.

His 2.00 ERA is the third-best in the league this season while Ochoa’s 10.25 strikeouts per nine innings is the sixth-best figure in the league.

“I spot my fastball,” Ochoa said of his strategy against hitters, “throw a lot of changeups and sliders. I really just throw strikes and get ahead (of hitters in the count), and then keep them off-balance.

“That usually works.”

The Catfish will host Jackson (15-35, 4-17) Saturday at 6:35 p.m. and Springfield (24-24, 13-8) on Sunday at 4:35 p.m. at Capaha Field.