Fireflies host Power Friday night in second game of series
ABOUT LAST GAME: The Fireflies scored two late runs to send Thursday’s game against West Virginia to extras and then eventually win in walk-off fashion. Desmond Lindsay scored the game-winner on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and Columbia defeated the Power, 3-2, in ten innings. Beforehand, the home team rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 2-2. Dash Winningham and Andres Gimenez both finished 2-for-4. Starter Merandy Gonzalez logged seven shut-out innings. The righty is now 5-1 with a 1.59 ERA (45.1 IP).
WALKOFF: Thursday was the second walk-off win of the season. The other occurred on May 2 vs. Delmarva (Gene Cone drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the game-winner in the bottom of ninth; 2-1 final score).
TCB, Pt. II: The Fireflies have now won seven of their last eight games and have the third-best win percentage in the league. Columbia, Greenville and Greensboro have the best records in the SAL over the last ten games (7-3).
WHO’S STOPPIN’ THEM?: Infielders Luis Carpio and Andres Gimenez have two of the longest on-base streaks in the South Atlantic League. Carpio has reached safely in 17 straight games (in fact, the second-longest in the SAL) and Gimenez 14. Only one player in the league has an active streak that is longer (Jose Gomez, Asheville – 18).
LEADER: Michael Paez now leads Columbia with a .287 batting average. He’s hitting .435 (10-for-23) with eight runs scored and four walks over his last seven games.
THE OTHER GUYS: West Virginia’s starter on Thursday is Cam Vieaux. The lefty has the best ERA (1.35) in the South Atlantic League and 13th-lowest in Minor League Baseball.
