Suns too bright for Fireflies, beat Columbia 4-3 Saturday
HAGERSTOWN, MD (Fireflies PR) – The Fireflies belted two home runs in a 4-3 loss to the Suns on Saturday night in front of 6,351 fans at Municipal Stadium. Columbia has five homers in the first three games of this series.
Andres Gimenez launched a two-run blast with two outs in the third frame – the second homer of the season for the 18-year-old. Hagerstown (33-22) starting pitcher Carlos Pena hit Michael Paez and then issued two consecutive walks, but Luis Carpio flew out to end the inning and strand the bases loaded. Columbia (28-25) led 2-0 after two frames.
The home-run trend continued for the visitors in the fourth inning. Ali Sanchez crushed his first long ball of the season and gave the squad a 3-0 edge. It’s the first homer for Sanchez in his professional career since 2014.
Harol Gonzalez tied a season high with seven innings on the mound. The righty mastered innings three through six – retiring all 12 batters that he faced. Gonzalez faced one hiccup in the bottom of the seventh and allowed back to back run-scoring doubles to Anderson Franco and Agustin. However, the 22-year-old bounced out of other trouble in the frame with Agustin at second base and two outs. Angelo La Bruna sent a groundball back to the mound and Gonzalez smartly tagged out Agustin who rounded the third-base bag too far. Columbia still led 3-2 after seven stanzas. The Suns continued to chip away in the eighth and tied the contest, 3-3.
The Suns scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Darwin Ramos (0-1) gave up a lead-off double to Telmito Agustin and then exited the game with one out. Adam Atkins surrendered a single with two outs and it scored Agustin.
The Fireflies drew seven walks in the game, but stranded 10 runners on base in the contest. Paez also recorded his league-leading 19th double of the season despite the defeat.
The Fireflies are back in action for the finale of this four-game series on Sunday afternoon at Municipal Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. against the Suns. Righty Gabriel Llanes (3-3, 3.11) makes the start for Columbia and southpaw Tyler Wilson (4-1, 3.05) is scheduled to pitch for Hagerstown.
You can listen to the action on ESPN Columbia 94.9 FM and 1230 AM, ColumbiaFireflies.com and the TuneIn Radio app starting at 1:45 p.m.
