Catfish 'pen can't sustain another strong outing by former Jackson star

The transition to the next level of baseball for former Jackson High School standout pitcher John-Paul Sauer continued on Saturday with another seamless step in the (very) right direction.

Sauer made his second start for the Cape Catfish this summer, and he looked like a wily veteran on the mound through five innings of work, despite being a month out of high school.

Cape (6-10) took a 5-2 lead into the seventh inning before the Pistol Shrimp (10-5) scored six runs in that inning and earned an 8-6 road win at Capaha Field, despite the best effort of Sauer early on.

“It was a good outing,” Catfish catcher Ben Barrow said of Sauer’s night. “He definitely had some life on his fastball.”

Sauer faced 20 batters and threw 47 strikes in his 75 pitches, as he gave up four hits, one earned run, two walks, and two strikeouts.

“He had good off-speed (pitches),” Barrow continued. “Literally, every pitch that he was throwing was really nice to catch.”

Sauer will make one more start for Cape before leaving for Tulane University at the end of this month.

As impressive as he has been on the mound, first-year Catfish manager Phil Butler has been impressed with the maturity level of Sauer, despite his youth.

 “(Sauer’s) mechanics are clean,” Butler said, “and he takes care of his body, which is super important for (pitching) arms, especially starters, but relievers, as well.”

Offensively, Cape was led by Alex Kowalski, who had a triple and a home run while scoring twice and driving in a pair of runs in the loss.

Former Jackson High player Henley Parker added two hits, a run scored and a walk while Southeast Missouri State sophomore-to-be Brooks Kettering (one hit, one walk), former Jackson High standout Lane Crowden (one walk), Southeast Missouri State player Bryce Cannon (one hit), Corbin Mallott (one hit, one run), JJ Williams (one hit, one run, one RBI), and Barrow (a home run, one run, two RBI) also contributed.

Kettering and Mallott each had doubles while Crowden, Mallott, and Williams each stole a base.

The Catfish bullpen consisted of four relievers, who combined to allow five hits and seven runs in the loss, negating Sauer’s outing.

“(Sauer) is an electric pitcher,” Barrow said. “You can tell, he is so young, but he has so much talent still to be brought out.

“He is a joy to catch and he is probably going to make it far in baseball.”

Redhawks fly

Former Southeast Missouri State players, now competing for the Pistol Shrimp, Cole Warehime and Chance Resetich, each had productive nights in the win.

Warehime played right field and had a hit, scored twice and walked twice.

Resetich, who just wrapped up his NCAA Division I eligibility for the Redhawks this spring, connected for a double and scored once.