Great Pitching, Four-run eighth lead Fireflies to Win

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies worked their second shutout of the season amid a scoring flurry as they took the opener 8-0 against the Augusta GreenJackets at Segra Park Tuesday morning.

Ethan Bosacker (W, 1-0) continued to flourish for the Fireflies. The righty spun five scoreless innings with four punchouts to move his ERA to 0.56 on the season in his first 16 frames. Bosacker allowed five hits in all—three of which came in the first inning. He retired nine-consecutive hitters from the last out of the second to a two-out single in the fifth before he escaped the inning and passed the ball to the pen.

It only took one arm in relief for Columbia today as Logan Martin (S, 1) worked the Fireflies second four inning save of the season. Martin struck out four in as many innings while walking one and allowing a pair of hits without any runs.

The bats put their stamp on the game in the eighth inning. Adam Shoemaker allowed five consecutive hits by the Fireflies as they scored four runs to extend their lead to 8-0. Erick Pena set the tone with a lead-off triple. After that, Jhonny Perdomo, Lizandro Rodriguez, Milo Rushford and Erick Torres were able to pile on consecutive hits to knock Shoemaker out of the game and put it out of reach.

The Fireflies bats were booming early in the game Tuesday. Derlin Figueroa started things off in the first inning with his second blast of the season, a two-run homer that plated Blake Mitchell and gave Columbia a 2-0 lead.

Erick Pena continued to pour it on in the second inning. The lefty pulled one to the right field lawn to start the inning and move Columbia’s lead to 3-0. Columbia added another run in the fourth inning. Figueroa led the frame off with a two-bagger down the right field line, advanced to third on a flyout from Austin Charles and came around on a Jhonny Perdomo two out single to make it 4-0.

Columbia continues their series with the Augusta GreenJackets tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Emmanuel Reyes (1-0, 5.17 ERA) gets the ball for Columbia and Augusta counters with RHP Davis Polo (0-2, 4.91 ERA).

The Fireflies continue a jam-packed promotional night at Segra Park tomorrow for HBCU Night presented by Synovus Bank. Get into the feel of attending an HBCU sporting event at Segra Park as we pay homage to our neighbors on Harden Street and all local HBCUs. It’s also Malmo Oat Milkers night. The Fireflies will don Oat Milkers jerseys in partnership with Oatly. One fan will throw out a first milk carton “pitch” and 50 fans will win a swag kit, courtesy of Oatly. Tickets are available at ColumbiaFireflies.com.