Columbia Loses Back-and-Forth Finale at Segra Park

Columbia, SC – The Fireflies dropped a spectacular back-and-forth series finale 7-6 in 10 innings vs the Fredericksburg Nationals at Segra Park Sunday evening.

Nick Peoples tied the game in the ninth inning. He smacked a one out solo homer off Ismael Michel to bring the score to 5-5. It was the first run Michel has allowed since July 21 for the Fireflies.

In the tenth inning, Seaver King reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners with no one out. Then Caleb Lomavita singled to score Elijiah Green and move King to third with a 6-5 lead. Finally, Brandon Pimentel singled to score King to make the lead two for Fredericksburg.

In the home half of the inning Erick Torres drew a lead-off walk to put the tying run on base with Jhonny Perdomo at second. Daniel Vazquez lifted a single to right field to score Perdomo, but then two pop outs and a strikeout ended the inning with the game-tying run at third base.

Then Fredericksburg gained their momentum in the seventh. Nate Ochoa singled to lead-off the seventh. Kelvin Diaz executed a sacrifice bunt to move Ochoa to scoring position for the top of the order and Elijiah Green slashed a two out RBI single to score Ochoa and move Fredericksburg within a run.

Columbia’s big inning came in the sixth. After Erick Torres legged out an infield single to start the inning, Daniel Vazquez, Derlin Figueroa and Austin Charles drew three consecutive walks to bring the Fireflies within one run. Next, Hyungchan Um sharply grounded out 5-6-3 to allow Vazquez to score to tie the game. Next, Carter Frederick slapped a single to score Figueroa and Charles to push the Fireflies to a 5-3 lead.

Carter Frederick kicked off Columbia’s rally in the second. He hit a two out double to left field before Callan Moss legged out an infield single and Frederick motored around from second on a Seaver King throwing error to tie the game 1-1.

The FredNats were able to regain the lead in the fourth inning. Brandon Pimental started with a single, then Nick Peoples and Nate Ochoa smashed back-to-back doubles to score Pimental and Peoples to push Fredericksburg’s lead to 3-1.

Fredericksburg hopped on the board first. Caleb Lomavita and Jose Colmenares singled before Nick Peoples drew a walk and Nate Ochoa got drilled by an inside pitch with the bases loaded to put the visitors in front 1-0.

Logan Martin finished out the night going five innings with four strikeouts while allowing three runs in his fourteenth start for Columbia this season. Columbia used four bullpen arms who allowed a pair of earned runs and four total runs in five innings. Jesus Rios was the lone arm to throw a clean outing from the pen.

Travis Skyora worked five innings without allowing an earned run with six punchouts before Columbia pounced on Fredericksburg’s bullpen. Then Bubba Hall, Anthony Arguelles and Matt Bollenbacher combined to throw 4.2 innings without allowing an earned run to close out the game.

The Fireflies kick-off a series with the Augusta GreenJackets at SRP Park Tuesday with a doubleheader beginning at 5:05 pm. Both teams have yet to name their starters for the series.

The Fireflies return home for their final homestand of the regular season September 3-8. They’ll close out the year with three firework shows, Harry Potter Night presented by Lowe’s Foods with a Hogwarts House Scarf giveaway and USC Night presented by E.F. Martin with a rally towel giveaway. Buy your tickets now at ColumbiaFireflies.com.