Hickory and Columbia combined for 24 hits in a slugfest on Thursday night at Spirit Communications Park. The Crawdads defeated the Fireflies 10-5 in the series opener and scored all 10 runs in the first five innings. Despite the loss, Columbia’s offense continued its success – 74 hits over the previous seven games.
The Fireflies offense erupted again on Tuesday night in Greenville, springing for 11 hits in a 7-5 victory over the Drive. Columbia has taken the first two games of the series and goes for the sweep – and a 5-1 road trip – with a win on Wednesday.
Chris Viall, Darwin Ramos and Carlos Hernandez were just about unhittable on Monday night in Greenville. The trio punched out 17 Drive hitters – tying a single-game franchise record – and led Columbia to a 7-1 series-opening victory. The Fireflies have now won all four series openers to begin the year.
Columbia outlasted Asheville in extras on Thursday night. The Fireflies scored twice in the top of the tenth and defeated the Tourists, 7-5, at McCormick Field. It was the first extra-inning game – and win – for Columbia in 2018.
The Fireflies produced a late-inning surge on Wednesday night at Spirit Communications Park. The squad trailed 3-2 after seven frames and then exploded with six runs in the eighth. Columbia defeated Hagerstown, 8-3, and claimed its first series win of the season.
On Monday, April 23 the Columbia Fireflies will host the Inaugural Capital City Baseball Classic at Spirit Communications Park.
The Hagerstown Suns topped the Fireflies 9-3 Tuesday night to take game two of the three-game series in Columbia.
The Fireflies erupted for a season-high 16 hits en route to an 8-3 victory over the Suns in the series opener Monday night. Edgardo Fermin, Blake Tiberi, Jeremy Vasquez, Rigoberto Terrazas, Walter Rasquin, and Scott Manea all collected multi-hit games. Columbia is off to a 3-2 start in 2018.
Sunday’s tilt started favorably for the Fireflies. Mets 2016 first round draft pick Anthony Kay struck out four over four innings in his first professional start and Blake Tiberi (with a pair of RBIs) helped Columbia jump out to an early 5-2 lead.
Joe Cavallaro watched from the dugout on Thursday night as his teammates flummoxed GreenJackets hitters. The right-hander followed the script and struck out a career-high eight hitters (6 IP) on Friday, leading Columbia to a 7-2 victory over Augusta at Spirit Communications Park.
