Braves Fry the Fish

Rome, GA – The Rome Braves defeated the Columbus Catfish 10-5 at State Mutual Stadium in front of 2,881 fans on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon.

Rome jumped out to an early lead in the first inning when Michael Fisher singled to right. Chad Lundahl followed with a single to left moving Fisher to second. A wild pitch by Glen Gibson moved the runners up and Cody Johnson then singled to center scoring Fisher. Concepcion Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to center scoring Lundahl to give Rome a 2-0 lead.

The Braves would add five more in the fourth to take a 7-0 advantage. Adam Coe singled to left and Javier Dominguez drew a walk. Michael Fisher then singled to right to load the bases and Chad Lundahl hit a sacrifice fly to score Coe and move Dominguez to third. A double steal scored Dominguez and moved Fisher to second. Jason Heyward would walk and a Cody Johnson then singled scoring Fisher. On the throw to the plate the ball got past catcher Ian Paxton allowing Heyward to score and Johnson to move to second. Concepcion Rodriguez later singled to center scoring Johnson giving the Braves the seven run lead.

The Catfish would add one in the fifth and another in the sixth when Henry Wrigley reached first on a fielding error by Coe and Seth Dhaenens singled to center moving Wrigley to third. Paxton then grounded into a double play and Wrigley scored from third making it 7-1 Braves. In the sixth Cody Cipriano hit a solo home run (1) making it 7-2. The Braves would add a run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Samuel Sime for the 8-2 score. The Catfish tried to chip away at the lead scoring another run in the seventh on a solo shot by Maiko Loyola (1) closing the lead to 8-3. But Rome put the game out of reach in the seventh with two runs highlighted by a Cody Johnson homerun (3) making the score 10-3. The Braves went on to win the game 10-5.

Braves Starter Chad Rodgers earns the win (1-1) with a stellar performance going five innings, striking out four, and allowing just one earned run. Columbus’s Glen Gibson picks up the loss (0-2).

Game four of the series will be tomorrow night and the Braves look to get back to .500 on the season. It’s dollar drink night at the ballpark. For ticket information, contact the Rome Braves at 706-378-5144 or log onto www.romebraves.com.