Cape Catfish

New Cape Catfish manager Scott Little has been given a number of tasks to accomplish this coming summer in the Prospect League, and maintaining the Catfish tradition of success is among the most important. However, at the end of the summer, how he’ll be evaluated is on whether the young athletes, who spent time at Capaha Field grew as baseball players or not.

It would have been a difficult assignment for a young baseball manager to step into the incredibly successful shoes of Stephen Larkin, who has served as the only manager in the three seasons of Cape Catfish baseball. So, Catfish General Manager Mark Hogan and club president and minority owner Glenn Campbell made sure the next leader of the team could handle the responsibility.

In the four years since the Cape Catfish baseball franchise was created, team general manager Mark Hogan has made the type of decisions to make the club as good as there is within the Prospect League.

Following his team’s regular-season final loss to O’Fallon on Saturday at Capaha Field, Cape Catfish General Manager Mark Hogan made it clear that there were 2022 players that he wanted to have back in the green-and-gold in 2023. “I will say this,” Hogan said, “out of respect for this ball club, there are several guys that I will be glad to talk to this fall about coming back because of the growth and maturity that they have.”

In the first two seasons of its existence, the Cape Catfish immediately evolved into the most successful franchise in the Prospect League. General manager Mark Hogan followed a simple formula for success: Sign talented AND older players.

On July 15, the Cape Catfish fell 8-4 to the Danville Dans in Danville, Ill., which was the team’s sixth consecutive loss, and for this franchise, which has been the most successful club in the Prospect League in each of the past two seasons, it was an unfathomable moment.

It isn’t a surprise that when you open the website for www.capecatfish.com, the first thing you see is Catfish pitcher Noah Burkey cheering on his team from the Capaha Field dugout.

Over the past few days, there has been no shortage of familiar faces to take the mound at Capaha Field, as the Cape Catfish close their regular season with five consecutive games against the O’Fallon Hoots.

The 2022 Cape Catfish season has been a laborious journey, and nothing captured that more so than Catfish infielder Zane Wallace taking a pitch off his foot on Saturday against Quincy at Capaha Field.

As players have dropped off the Cape Catfish this summer with injuries (and there have been several), the club has had to piecemeal a roster together to some degree, as it chases one of the coveted Prospect League playoff positions in August.

On Saturday night, Steve Larkin was back in his comfort zone guiding his baseball team, the Cape Catfish, to a come-from-behind 7-5 win over the Quincy Gems at Capaha Field. It was Larkin’s first game back in Cape Girardeau since the passing of his father, Robert Larkin, 86, on July 8 in Cincinnati, and Larkin’s “first hero” wasn’t far from his mind.

The Cape Catfish split a pair of weekend games, as they topped Alton 4-3 on Friday at Capaha Field and fell at REX Baseball in Terre Haute, Ind. on Saturday 11-8. In Friday's win, despite being outhit 10-6, the Catfish added a run in the eighth inning to prevail over the River Dragons...

The above slogan isn’t just an appealing marketing slogan put out there by the Prospect League, there is a whole lot of validity behind it.

The Cape Catfish finally broke out of its malaise on Tuesday with an 8-7 win over Alton at Capaha Field, and the club packed its positive mojo for its road trip Wednesday to Quincy, as the Catfish (16-25, 4-6 second half) won 15-3. A BIG reason for this 48 hours of success has been solid starting pitching, which truth be told, even during the recent six-game losing streak, hadn’t been bad.

The Cape Catfish (14-25 overall, 2-6 second half) can't seem to find much luck this season.

You can’t accuse the Cape Catfish of going down without a fight.

Ashley and Dave Lawson haven’t endured many tribulations and trials in either of their coaching careers in recent years.

Each day, Cape Catfish assistant coach Dave Lawson follows the same routine, only he is hoping for a different result.

In Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to Alton at Capaha Field, Cape Catfish player Dante Zamudio found himself in a rare position: On the bench.

The summer of discontent continued for the Cape Catfish on Sunday, as they fell 4-1 to Springfield at Capaha Field.

Former Jackson High School standout pitcher Colten Weber has endured his amount of struggles this summer, however, he was sharp on Thursday at Capaha Field in a 6-2 win over Alton.

The Cape Catfish got a grand slam from first baseman Cam Careswell and scored nine runs late in a 12-2 win over Alton on Wednesday at Capaha Field.

Cape Catfish pitcher Hunter Ralls has been looking for a “break,” as in his breaking ball being more effective against Prospect League hitters, and he just may have found it.

It was ironic that the Cape Catfish utilized a base on balls to win their Prospect League game on Wednesday at Capaha Field, 5-3, over Clinton. That is because Catfish manager Steve Larkin actually wants his players “being aggressive” at the plate, rather than sit back and hope for a walk.

There are any number of walk-up songs that would be fitting for Cape Catfish second-year player, Kolten Poorman, as he strides to the plate. He could go with the classic country tune by Toby Keith, “I should’ve been a cowboy.”

After snapping a 7-game losing streak with a victory on Friday, the Cape Catfish broke a two-game skid on Sunday evening, by taking the second game of a doubleheader at Quincy 8-1.

The Cape Catfish drew three bases-loaded walks in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday, which resulted in a 6-5 win over the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp at Capaha Field.

The Cape Catfish are in dire need of some positive mojo right now and there has been no player in the brief history of the franchise that exudes positivity more so than Ellison Hanna II.

As the Cape Catfish has become the most successful franchise in the Prospect League over the past couple of summers, putting together any extended number of losses has been a non-thought, and no one knows that more so than Kolten Poorman, who has been a fixture in the Catfish lineup for over a year.

The Cape Catfish find themselves in a peculiar position – last place in the Western Conference Praire Land Division.

The Cape Catfish dropped a pair of road games to the Clinton Lumberkings on Friday and Saturday, falling to 7-10 on the season. Clinton broke a 1-1 tie in Friday's game, scoring seven unanswered runs across the fifth and sixth innings en route to an 8-1 victory...

In the doubleheader split with Quincy on Tuesday at Capaha Field, Cape Catfish player Danny Sperling contributed four hits, two runs scored, as well as a pair of RBIs. However, his contribution defensively may have been just as important. The Southeast Missouri State senior-to-be opened has played five games for the Catfish, opening at second base, but on Tuesday, moved over to fill in at first base.

When the Cape Catfish sign a local player to a “temporary contract,” it is supposed to be just that – temporary.

Baseball is a team game, so Cape Catfish player Ty Stauss isn’t going to blame two recent losses to Burlington on any one player specifically. However, the truth is, Stauss has made a quick and significant impact for the Catfish since making his debut with the team on Friday.

Cape Catfish pitcher Mark Eddie didn’t have the smoothest of freshmen seasons in his first year at NCAA Division III Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. However, early indications are that Eddie’s summer is going to be a trend in the right direction in his development.

A year ago, Cape Catfish pitcher Marshall Brown was coming off a redshirt season as a young guy at NCAA Division II Arkansas Tech and he lacked a bit of confidence in himself on the mound.

The Cape Catfish won a pair of road games on Wednesday and Thursday to even their season mark at 4-4.

Former Jackson High School baseball standout Lane Crowden had a limited spring this year in his final season at Three Rivers Community College.

This past spring wasn’t a particularly busy one for Southern Illinois junior baseball player J.D. Ortiz.

After spending his first spring at Mineral Area Community College as a redshirt pitcher, former Kelly High School standout Bryce Morgan has been anxious to get back onto a baseball diamond this summer.

Former Saxony Lutheran High School pitcher Eli Brown made his debut on Friday for the Cape Catfish with mixed results, but in the end, Catfish infielder J.D. Ortiz made sure every Catfish fan walked out of Capaha Field feeling good. Ortiz smacked three hits and drove in five runs, including three in the eighth inning, to lead Cape to an 8-6 come-from-behind win over Springfield in Cape’s 2022 home opener.

A memo to high school baseball players throughout Missouri: particularly in Southeast Missouri, you are being watched. And not just for your services to be utilized by the next level years from now, but sooner than you realize. The Cape Catfish open their third season of play at Capaha Field on Friday, as they host Springfield at 6:35 p.m., and they’ll have many familiar faces on the field.

The Cape Catfish continue to search for their first win of the 2022 season after losing 7-3 Thursday to the Alton River Dragons in Alton, Ill.

The Cape Catfish opened its 2022 season with a 10-5 loss at O'Fallon on Wednesday. The Hoots (1-0) scored three runs in the first inning and added four more in the third, as they built a 7-2 lead.

The Cape Catfish have been in existence for two seasons in the Prospect League. In 2019, the Catfish advanced to the final game of the championship series before falling one game shy of a title. However, the team made amends last season (2020 was canceled due to COVID) by rallying in the championship final and winning the franchise’s initial title in its brief existence.

Throughout her storied and Hall of Fame-caliber career as a college coach and administrator, Cindy Gannon developed a keen sense of observance.

Cape Catfish manager Steve Larkin and four of the team’s players were honored Wednesday morning when the Prospect League announced its 2021 award recipients. Larkin was named the Prospect League Manager of the Year for the second straight season. The Cincinnati native helped lead the Catfish to their first Prospect League championship in just their second season, posting a record of 38-22...

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Indiana State baseball player Ellison Hanna III returned to play this summer for the Cape Catfish “for one reason,” he screamed after helping the Catfish win their first Prospect League championship on Thursday over the Lafayette Aviators.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The epic finale scene in any “Rocky” movie had nothing on what the Cape Catfish game with the Lafayette Aviators had on Thursday.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – There are many things to enjoy about the Cape Catfish baseball club being in Cape Girardeau.