Catfish commit five errors in lopsided loss to Dans

Cape Catfish pitcher Jalen Borders walks to the dugout after being pulled from the game against the Danville Dans on Tuesday at Capaha Field.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

The Cape Catfish dug themselves a hole early Tuesday against the Danville Dans.

Starting pitcher Jalen Borders allowed seven runs — three earned — and gave up six hits in just 2 2/3 innings of work, and the Catfish defense recorded three errors in the first two innings of an 8-2 loss to the Dans (21-16) at Capaha Field.

“It was pretty much Jalen’s decision to stay in the game,” Catfish manager Steve Larkin said. “He said, ‘I don’t have my best stuff but I want to fight through it,’ so we trusted him to fight through it. He’s usually lights out but you’re gonna have games where you’re not gonna have your best stuff. He threw the ball around a little bit behind him, and he understands that. He’s pretty much a professional and I expect him to be lights out again in his next start.”

The Catfish allowed 11 hits and finished with five errors on the night, two of which were committed by Borders.

“We’ve just got to keep playing,” Larkin said. “The way you get better at playing baseball is by playing baseball. We’ve just got to clean up the errors, and when you make a decision you stick with it. Sometimes you get a little indecisive out there, sometimes you kind of lay back on a ball that you should charge. You’ve just got to be aggressive, that’s all.”

Diego Johnson was one of the few positives Tuesday night. The Texas A&M Corpus Christi product went 3-for-4 at the plate and made several defensive stops.

Cape Catfish infielder Diego Johnson celebrates with the first base coach after hitting a single against the Danville Dans on Tuesday at Capaha Field.

J.C. Reeves ~ jcreeves@semoball.com

“He just comes down and swings the bat,” Larkin said. “He had a play out there where he kind of got caught in between a little bit, but we’ll clean that up. It goes back to decision-making, again. You’ve got to make a decision and stick with it.”

DJ Wright put together a solid performance on the mound in the ninth inning. Wright — who typically plays infield but occasionally pitches in relief — struck out three batters while allowing a hit.

Cape (24-17) travels to Alton on Wednesday for a road contest against the River Dragons (18-21) before returning home for a second showdown with the Dragons on Thursday.

“Every game is equally important no matter who we play,” Larkin said. “I don’t care who’s in that other dugout, we’re going to come out with the same mentality to beat the best team in the bigs every day. If you come prepared to do that with that same attitude you can’t go wrong.”