Fireflies Lose Once More to GreenJackets Saturday

AUGUSTA, GA – The Augusta offense was too much on Saturday night at Lake Olmstead Stadium, the Fireflies dropped the third game of the series, 8-4. The bright spot was Kevin Kaczmarski. Columbia’s outfielder registered his second straight three-hit game and tattooed his second home run of the season.

The Fireflies have run into arguably the hottest offense in the league this weekend. The GreenJackets leapt out to an 8-0 advantage after four frames. Miguel Gomez knocked in half of those runs, one of which scoring after his eighth long ball of the season.

Starter Chase Ingram (L, 4-8) was replaced by righty Johnny Magliozzi in the fourth. The reliever wound up hurling 2.2 scoreless innings of work. Magliozzi has impressed over the last month and a half – his ERA over his last 11 outings is 1.64.

Natanael Ramos plated Columbia’s (5-12, 41-46) first run in the sixth inning. Later in the seventh, after Dale Burdick singled, Kaczmarski drilled his home run over the right-field wall. Ramos and Kaczmarski tallied five combined hits on Saturday.

With Augusta’s (11-6, 47-40) Connor Kaden (W, 6-2) on the mound, the visitors tacked on one more run. Kaczmarski singled to left field and shortly thereafter Eudor Garcia drove him home with a base knock.

Nicco Blank also tossed two scoreless innings out of Columbia’s bullpen. The Fireflies need to win on Sunday to avoid the four-game sweep.

Sunday’s game begins at 5:05 p.m. from Lake Olmstead Stadium. Southpaw Kevin Canelon (5-6, 3.16) is on the bump for the Fireflies facing the GreenJackets’ righty Jake McCasland (1-4, 1.86).

You can listen to the action on WGCV 620 AM, 105.1 and 96.3 FM, ColumbiaFireflies.com and the TuneIn Radio app starting at 4:45 p.m.