Local talent boosts Catfish to rout of Rockabillys

The Cape Catfish leadership has emphasized signing players from Southeast Missouri, though with the caveat, those players need to be able to help the team win games.

That was evident on Saturday, as three local pitchers combined to boost Cape past Jackson (Tenn.) 10-3 at Capaha Field.

“We’re going to develop these guys,” first-year Catfish manager Scott Little said earlier this season, “but at the same time, winning is fun, and I hope that we do both.”

And if the team can “do both” with familiar faces, all the better.

On Saturday, Notre Dame High School graduates Noah Gadberry and Kam Dohogne combined to throw eight innings of three-hit baseball while allowing just three earned runs and walking three.

The Bulldog duo also struck out nine batters.

“My goal is to succeed,” Gadberry said of this summer’s expectations. “I just want to get more and more opportunities, and just help the team win.”

Gadberry worked six of those eight innings and struck out six Jackson batters, as Cape (35-17 overall, 13-11 second half) scored the initial six runs in the game.

Former Kelly High School standout, Bryce Morgan, closed the game by throwing the final inning.

Morgan threw 13 pitches, nine of which were strikes, and didn’t allow a run or a hit.

The victory snapped a two-game skid for the Catfish, who had dropped five of eight games before Saturday.

Another local talent, former Jackson High School athlete, Lane Crowden, paced the Cape offense in the win.

Crowden had two hits, scored twice, had an RBI, and walked a couple of times.

Crowden, who plays at the University of Southern Indiana, ranks 12th in the Prospect League in RBI with 37 and raised his batting average to .311 with the solid outing.

“I came in as a younger guy last year,” Crowden told Semoball.com earlier this summer. “I had a lot of older guys that I could go to.

“The roles are reversed this year. We have a lot of young talent here and I want to give back to them like the older guys gave back to me.”

Catfish lead-off hitter Chris Hall and Justin Carinci also had two hits in the rout while Brody Chrisman and Cal Kilgore also tallied hits.