Columbia was aiming to leave Hickory with a victory and that’s exactly what Manager Pedro Lopez’s team did on Friday night. The Fireflies avoided being swept and defeated the Crawdads, 8-3. Columbia had trailed until the fourth inning before it took a lead it wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the night. The Fireflies are back to two games above .500 (18-16) and snapped their three-game losing skid.
Columbia and Hickory combined for 21 runs and 24 hits on Wednesday, but it was the home team that took game one of the three-game series by a final score of 11-10.
The Fireflies burned the BlueClaws, 9-7, at Spirit Communications Park, the club’s fourth straight win. An incensed crowd of 4,923 witnessed Columbia erase a five-run deficit and win for just the second time in franchise history.
The force was with the Fireflies on Star Wars Night in front of 5,682 fans at Spirit Communications Park Friday. Rigoberto Terrazas knocked in the game-winning run, Quinn Brodey, with a single in the ninth and gave Columbia a 2-1 victory over Lakewood. It’s the second straight walk-off win for the Fireflies – the first time this has been done in franchise history.
Jeremy Vasquez had one of his finest days at the plate this season. And delivered when his team needed it the most on Wednesday.
Columbia first baseman Jeremy Vasquez tallied four hits and drove in a pair of runs in Tuesday’s double header in Charleston. The lefty slugger recorded hits in both games which extended his on-base streak to a new franchise record 18 games in a row. Vasquez and the Fireflies dropped both games of the twin bill, though, at Joe Riley Park.
Columbia evened its four-game series against the Hickory Crawdads with a 6-3 victory on Friday night at Spirit Communications Park.
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.
Manager Pedro Lopez had high hopes for his pitching staff in 2018 and on opening night, Tony Dibrell delivered in his first professional start. The right-hander struck out six and allowed just one hit in four innings of work on Thursday and Columbia downed the GreenJackets, 4-2. The Fireflies are now 3-0 in home openers (4-1 W v. Greenville on 4/14/16 and 14-7 W v. Augusta on 4/6/17).
