WATCH: Fireflies Come Back to Beat Drive, 3-2
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Columbia, SC (Fireflies) – Dash Winningham drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, leading the Fireflies to a 3-2 win over Greenville on Monday night. Columbia took the series opener against the Drive – the first series against the Red Sox affiliate in three months.
The game was knotted up, 2-2, and Gerson Bautista (L, 1-2) had retired the first two Fireflies in the bottom of the eighth. Eudor Garcia climbed into the left-hand batter’s box and belted a single into left field. He later reached second base on a passed ball. Then Winningham fouled off pitch after pitch and finally roped one into center field, scoring Garcia.
Jimmy Duff (S, 4) came on for the ninth and tossed a one-two-three frame.
The Fireflies were behind the first five innings. Roldani Baldwin plated the game’s first run in the second frame. The was the only blemish on Chase Ingram’s report card on Monday. The right-hander pitched six innings and struck out five. Ingram has recorded five straight quality starts.
The offense came to the rescue in the fifth. Patrick Mazeika took a fastball off of his right foot to start the frame and moved to second when Joe Tuschak singled. A ground ball off of Milton Ramos’ bat enabled Mazeika to trek to third and his carousel around the bases was completed soon after that. Greenville (21-23, 58-55) starter Daniel Gonzalez hurled a pitch to the back stop, which allowed Mazeika to score.
Columbia (16-28, 52-62) jumped in front the next frame. J.C. Rodriguez and Garcia stroked back-to-back doubles, giving the home team a 2-1 edge. Garcia recorded another three-hit night, that’s two for the lefty in as many days.
Tyler Bashlor (W, 3-1) surrendered a Drive run in the seventh, but came back out and stumped Greenville in the eighth. The flame-throwing right-hander struck out six batters in his two innings of work.
Columbia hosts Greenville again on Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. The probables for the middle game of the series are righty Gaby Almonte (2-4, 5.26) for the Fireflies and southpaw Enmanuel De Jesus (0-1, 5.55) for the Drive.
You can watch the action on MiLB.TV or listen in on WGCV 620 AM and 96.3 FM, ColumbiaFireflies.com and the TuneIn Radio app starting at 7:00 p.m.
