Columbia Wins Fourth Straight Series
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies took two of three games from the West Virginia Power with a 4-1 victory on Thursday night. Columbia has won four straight series and 10 of its last 13 games.
Dale Burdick and Eudor Garcia carried the offense once again. Burdick notched his seventh multi-hit game over his last 13, and Garcia reached base safely for the 12th game in a row.
The Fireflies fell behind 1-0 in the fourth inning. Mitchell Tollman walked against Columbia’s (29-37, 65-71) spot starter Luis Silva to begin the frame. He swiped second base and two batters later scored on Carlos Munoz’s single.
Silva – a 19-year-old – was solid in his South Atlantic League debut. That was the only run the righty allowed in 4.1 innings. He also struck out three batters.
The Fireflies swiped the lead from West Virginia (33-33, 68-67) the next half inning. J.C. Rodriguez and Burdick lasered back-to-back base hits. Patrick Mazeika’s groundout to first base moved both runners into scoring position. Garcia knocked in the pair with a single to left field.
The home team struck for two more in the sixth and the duo of Rodriguez and Burdick started the party once again. The former doubled and the latter singled. Runners were at the corners for Mazeika again. His base hit scored Rodriguez. Burdick later reached third on a wild pitch and subsequently tagged and scored thanks to Garcia’s sacrifice fly.
The bullpen did the rest. Witt Haggard (W, 2-4) hurled 2.2 scoreless innings and both Tyler Bashlor and Jimmy Duff (S, 7) posted shutout innings of relief.
Columbia concludes its 2016 season with a four-game series against the Charleston RiverDogs starting Friday at 7:05 p.m. Right-hander Chase Ingram (8-9, 4.57) starts for the Fireflies and faces Charleston righty Nick Green (3-0, 1.06).
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.
