Fireflies Outlast Salem in 10-8 Win

COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies scored three in the ninth to upend the Salem Red Sox and win 10-8 Saturday night at Carilion Clinic Field Saturday night.

When Columbia came to the plate in the ninth, they were trailing 8-7. Brett Squires started the inning, reaching on a catcher’s interference. Then, with one out, Levi Usher legged out a fielding error from Karson Simas to put the go-ahead run on base with less than two outs. Brennon McNair slapped a single up the middle to score Squires and tie the game 8-8.

Then Omar Florentino singled to plate Usher and give the Fireflies a 9-8 lead. Finally, Jean Ramirez drew the second bases loaded walk of the game for Columbia to give the Fireflies some insurance and a 10-8 lead heading into the home half of the ninth.

Cooper McKeehan (S, 3) closed out the game. The southpaw faced four hitters and fanned a pair after taking the ball from Ben Sears (W, 2-0). Sears came into a jam in the seventh and kept the Fireflies within reach with 2.2 scoreless innings after he surrendered the go-ahead run to Salem.

The Fireflies bats warmed up in the third inning. With Enmanuel Pire in scoring position, Omar Hernandez doubled in the left-center gap to cut Salem’s lead to 2-1. Later, Jean Ramirez and Omar Florentino got a run on a double steal plating the latter. Then a wild pitch scored Ramirez to put Columbia up 4-1.

Enmanuel Pire hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to give the Fireflies a 5-2 lead. Columbia scored in four-straight innings from the third to the sixth. In the sixth it was Squires who drove in Hernandez with a single and a second double steal, scoring Lizandro Rodriguez to put Columbia up 7-3.

Salem (15-16) gave up 11 walks and committed seven errors in the game. The Fireflies scored 10 runs, but only five were earned for the Salem pitching staff.

Salem started the scoring again Saturday night. After David Sandlin issued a lead-off walk to Roman Anthony, Juan Chacone laced a double down the first base line to score Anthony and give Salem a 1-0 lead.

The next inning, Yoriberto Mejicano and Enderso Lira hit back-to-back one out base knocks to set the table for Karson Simas who sent a sacrifice fly to the left field warning track to plate Mejicano and push Salem’s lead to 2-0.

The Fireflies close out their series with the Salem Red Sox tomorrow afternoon at 3:05 pm at Carilion Clinic Field. RHP Mauricio Veliz (0-1, 2.77 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Salem counters with lefty Noah Dean (1-1, 5.27 ERA).

Columbia returns home Tuesday, May 23 to start a six-game series with the Charleston RiverDogs. The week marks the return of Copa de la Diversíon weekend presented by Southern Recipe Small Batch Pork Rinds, where the Fireflies will become Los Chiccarones de Columbia for the weekend. Friday, the Fireflies will give away a soccer scarf for the first 1,000 fans through the gates thanks to Southern Recipe Small Batch and Saturday, we’ll have a fantastic fireworks display. Tickets are still available at FirefliesTickets.com.