Cobb Start Leads to another Win

Published on May 12, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Columbus Catfish News Release


Columbus, GA - Alex Cobb won his 4th straight start as the Columbus Catfish (17-20) held off a late Hickory Crawdads (16-22) rally to win 6-4.

Columbus got on the board first in the bottom of the 1st inning as Hickory starter Duke Welker looked the part of a pitcher returning from the disabled list. Shawn O'Malley had a single, followed by a stolen base. Maiko Loyola than drew a walk and Welker uncorked a wild pitch allowing both runners to advance. Greg Sexton than drove in O'Malley with a groundout and Welker allowed Loyola to score when he threw his 2nd wild pitch of the inning.

Hickory wasted little time in responding, as Cobb walked Erik Huber to start the inning, than made his only mistake of the night, a fastball that Marcus Davis hit over the right centerfield wall to tie the game at 2.

Welker and Cobb traded zeros until the bottom of the 4th, when Loyola led off the inning with a single, which was followed by a Greg Sexton blast over the left field wall, giving Columbus a 4-2 lead.

The score would remain 4-2 until the bottom of the 7th, when Loyola picked up Luna with an RBI single to give the team a very important insurance run.

In the top of the 8th, the Crawdads bats came to life. Austin McClune doubled down the left field line and was driven in by a Miles Durham single to left. Huber than followed with another single giving Hickory runners on first and third with 1 out. Garcia than struck out Andrew Walker, but a Greg Sexton error on a Davis ground ball allowed Hickory to get 1 run in with the tying run in scoring position. Kevin Boggan than came on to pitch and gave up a line drive to Spain that looked like a game-tying single only to see Loyola make a diving catch to stop the Hickory rally

An insurance run was than tacked on in the 8th, as Fronk and McCormick hit back-to-back doubles to give Columbus a 6-4 lead, though Hickory would not go down quietly.

After a Tom Hagan walk, Silvio Pena was hit by a Boggan pitch, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with no one out. De Los Sants successfully sacrificed them over, but Boggan was able to strand those 2 runners after inducing a McClune pop-up and a Huber ground out between a Durham walk. Cobb continued his strong pitching of late, throwing 5 innings of 4 hit baseball with only one mistake, a 2-run homer by Marcus Davis in the 2nd inning. Offensively, the team was led by Maiko Loyola, who went 2-3 with 2 runs scored, a run batted in and a terrific diving catch that kept the Catfish lead safe. Reid Fronk also went 3-4 with a run and Greg Sexton hit his 2nd home run of the season and drove in 3 runs. Jesse Garcia provided 2.2 innings of great middle relief, striking out 6 while Boggan recorded his 3rd save of the year.

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South Atlantic League Stories from May 12, 2008


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