River Dragons Beat Catfish 7-3

(Photo by Nathan Woodside)

From the Alton River Dragons:

ALTON, Ill. -  Houston High threw three scoreless innings, Mike Hampton blasted a home run and a series of pitchers locked down a 7-3 Alton River Dragons win over the Cape Catfish Sunday evening.

Making his debut, High retired each of the nine batters he faced to set the tone. A conveyor belt of position players followed and held Cape to three runs on seven hits the rest of the way.

At the plate, Hampton launched a first inning solo homer to right field. That ignited a four run inning that included RBI singles from Bryce Zupan and Chris Andrews, along with a bases loaded walk to Adam Stilts.

The River Dragons extended the lead to 6-0 in the second inning and cruised from there.

Eddie King Jr. officially earns the win, tossing a scoreless seventh inning. Ben Gallaher and Kurtis Reid also threw scoreless innings.

Hampton finished with a season-best three hits.  Blake Guerin and Zupan had two apiece.

The River Dragons improve to 18-12, having already clinched a playoff spot, the objective is to now get the best possible overall record. 

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From the Cape Catfish:

ALTON, Ill. – The Cape Catfish ended the first half of their 2022 Prospect League campaign on a losing note Sunday night, falling on the road to the Alton River Dragons, 7-3.

The loss dropped the Catfish record to 11-19, seven games behind the 18-12 River Dragons who sit atop the Prospect League's Prairie Land Division.

The River Dragons pounced on Catfish starter Brayden Polzien (Buena Vista University) who lasted just a third of an inning, giving up four runs on three walks on four hits including the first home run of the season to Lewis and Clark Community College's Mike Hampton.

Alton picked up two more runs in the second inning before Cape got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning thanks to an RBI singles by Belmont University's Blake Barton and Southeast Missouri State's Josh Cameron who was added to the Catfish roster last week.

Cape and Alton each scored an unearned run, Alton's in the bottom of the fifth and Cape's in the top of the sixth, before the before bullpens tossed shutout ball for the rest of the game.

Alton pitchers limited Cape to eight hits, all of them singles. In addition to Hampton's home run, Alton had nine other hits including doubles by Kurtis Reid, a redshirt freshman from the University of Louisville, and Blake Guerin who just graduated from high school in Shoreview, Minnesota, and will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall.

Polzein took the loss and is now 1-2 while Alton reliever Eddie King Jr. (University of Louisville) got the win for the River Dragons, his first of the season against no losses.

The Catfish and River Dragons start the second half of their 60-game seasons Monday in a 6:35 p.m. game at Lloyd Hopkins Field in Alton.