Tebow, Fireflies look to set new club record Tuesday night
ABOUT LAST GAME: Columbia kicked off its three-game series with the Hickory Crawdads with a 3-0 victory. The Fireflies are the only undefeated team in the South Atlantic League
STREAKING: The Fireflies’ five-game win streak ties the longest in the franchise’s short history (the last from August 19-23 last year). Even more impressive, Columbia hasn’t trailed at any point during the first five games (45 innings).
0 0 0: Monday was the club’s third shut-out win. It took Columbia until July 16 last season to notch three shut-out victories. In total, the 2016 team accomplished the feat 8 times. This year’s squad is 38% of the way to matching that total through just five games.
HOLD THE PHONE: Starter Colin Holderman—in his first professional start—struck out a franchise-record 11 batters on Monday night in just six innings.
BETTER YET: If that wasn’t impressive enough, Columbia struck out 16 total hitters on Monday night—setting a new club record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game (17 is the high for any game, regardless of the number of innings; this occurred during a 14-inning tilt on September 3, 2016). Relievers Matt Blackham (3 Ks) and Joe Zanghi (2) contributed to the total.
ON TOP: Columbia ranks no. 1 in the SAL in these statistical categories:
AVG – .306 Runs – 39 Walks – 39
SBs – 16 OBP – .438 Fewest Hits Allowed – 29
The club is second in the SAL in fewest strikeouts (36, hitting) and third in most strikeouts (55, pitching).
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME: An average of 5,925 fans have made it out each night to Spirit Communications Park.
