MILL RATS STRAND 16; LOSE 11-7 TO CATFISH

7/4/2025

By George Lucas

For the first time in four July 4th battles, the Johnstown Mill Rats fell, this time to the Cape Catfish.

It was also the first-ever meeting between the two teams, and the Fish dropped the Rats 11-7.

Cape (Girardeau, MO) wasted no time getting on the board pushing a run across in the top of the first.  Johnstown answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning.

The Catfish went up again 2-1 in the third, but once again, the Mill Rats answered to tie the game at 2-all.

Cape plated three in the fourth to forge ahead 4-2.  Then, the Catfish sent 12 hitters to the plate in the seventh resulting in six runs and an 11-2 lead.

That lead held up until the eighth.  Johnstown batted around and notched four runs in the inning to close the gap to 11-6.  The Mill Rats added a single tally in the ninth, but that was as close as they would get as the final scored was set at 11-7.

Johnstown stranded 16 baserunners while the Catfish left just 8.

Isaias Espiritusanto nabbed the loss for Johnstown, falling to 2-2 on the season.

Cape’s Zach Herb, a sophomore at Seton Hill University, earned the win to improve to 3-2 on the year.

The Mill Rats fall to 3-4 in the second half, good for second place in the Northeast Division while the win improves the Catfish to 4-2 and into a first place tie with the O’Fallon Hoots in the South.

Johnstown and Cape will battle again Saturday at 7:00pm at Sargent’s Stadium at The Point.

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