Catfish capitalize on four RiverDogs errors for win

Catfish 7, RiverDogs 4

The Charleston RiverDogs gave away several extra outs, many unearned runs and eventually, the game.

The Columbus Catfish took advantage of four RiverDogs errors to hand Charleston its second straight loss at home, 7-4, in front of a Riley Park crowd of 5,731 on Saturday.

Charleston's sloppy fielding allowed the Catfish (11-12) to score four unearned runs, and Columbus' pitchers held the RiverDogs to only five hits.

"Today is unacceptable," Charleston manager Torre Tyson said. "It's scaring me because they're starting to think it's OK. We just handed them the game.

"We're going to come out tommorrow and do some things on Sunday we don't normally do. The physical errors will happen. I'm not going to get as upset at those, but just to continually make poor mental decisions, it's got to stop."

Charleston (18-5) has lost two straight and have probably looked the worst in the past two days than they have all season. They've combined to commit seven errors over that stretch and haven't been able to control Columbus' fleet baserunners. The Catfish stole five bases on Saturday with Emeel Salem stealing two. He leads the South Atlantic League with 21 steals.

"These guys love to run; they love to take the extra base," Tyson said. "They love to keep the pressure on you and tonight we didn't handle the pressure."

Columbus took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on one hit, a throwing error by Wady Rufino and four walks from starter Noel Castillo (3-1). Charleston managed to even the score on Rufino's two-run homer in the second and Justin Snyder's sacrifice fly in the third.

Columbus wasted no time retaking the lead. Omar Luna doubled, went to third on a balk and scored on an infield groundball. Cody Cipriano reached base on an error by shortstop Carmen Angelini in the seventh.

The RiverDogs had started to rally in the eighth. Bradley Suttle scored to cut the lead to 7-4 and Charleston had runners at first and second with two out when Jesus Montero was caught in a rundown on a pickoff move by Justin Garcia.

Ballpark fun

Fans were chosen randomly to participate in a cash grab after the game. Sixteen fans lined up at home plate while over $1,000 was spread out in the outfield for whomever could collect it.

Coming up

The RiverDogs and Catfish finish their series today with a 4:05 p.m. start at Riley Park. The scheduled starters are Charleston righthander Adam Olbrychowski (0-2, 5.60 ERA) and Columbus righty Josh Johnson (1-2, 4.35).

Because it's a Family Sunday, children are invited to run the bases and fans can get autographs from players after the game.

It's also the first Dog Day of the year. Fans are allowed to bring their canine companions to enjoy some baseball.

Reach Bill Henley at 937-5595 or by email at bhenley@postandcourier.com.

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