Walk-Off Loss Sets Up Sweep to Clinch Playoff

Columbia, SC – The Fireflies were locked in a pitcher’s duel again vs the Augusta GreenJackets, but fell in walk-off fashion 2-1 Sunday night. The Fireflies sit 6.5 games behind the Charleston RiverDogs and now need to win their final seven games of the season to clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth.

Zachary Cawyer (L, 4-1) issued a lead-off walk to Jake Steels in the ninth. Steels advanced on a groundout to set the stage for Willmer De La Cruz. The outfielder smoked a liner to the left field corner to score Steels and provide GreenJackets fans with a walk-off win in their season finale at SRP Park.

Augusta tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning after Titus Dumitru grounded out to score John Gill from third to set up the exciting final inning of play.

Pitching was the name of the game again Sunday and Jonatan Bernal set the tone with five, two-hit innings for Columbia. He only had a pair of strikeouts, but he kept Augusta off the board for a second-outing this week before Columbia moved to the bullpen.

After that, Julio Rosario held firm with two scoreless innings to give the ball to Cawyer with a 1-0 lead.

Callan Moss provided the pop for the Fireflies. He clobbered a solo shot in the seventh to give the Fireflies the lead and their lone run of the game.

Columbia kicks-off a seven-game set with the Charleston RiverDogs Tuesday at 5 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.