Doubleheader Splits After Pair of Pitcher’s Duels

Columbia, SC – The Fireflies and the RiverDogs split doubleheader dominated by both pitching staffs Thursday night at Segra Park. Columbia took game one 2-1 and lost game two 3-1.

Game One

Logan Martin (W, 1-0) kept up his hot month of May in game one of the double header. Martin spun five innings, allowing a single run to score off five hits. He added three strikeouts to allow the bats to push in front before he handed the ball to the bullpen.

In two starts in May, Martin has worked 10 innings and has allowed just one run. Only one bullpen arm was required. Chase Isbell (S, 1) worked a pair of scoreless innings in relief to shut the door on the RiverDogs.

The Fireflies grabbed ahold of an early lead in the first inning of game one. Blake Mitchell singled with one out and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Next, Derlin Figueroa looped a double to left-center to plate Mitchell and break the scoreless tie.

Erick Pena got the ball moving again in the bottom of the fourth inning. The lefty pulled a two out double down the left field line before Jhonny Perdomo floated an RBI single to left field to push Columbia’s lead to 2-0. That hit moved Perdomo to 10-30 with runners in scoring position this season. All of his 15 RBI have scored with a runner starting at second or third base.

The RiverDogs cut Columbia’s lead in half in the top of the fifth. Odalys Peguero started the movement with a one out single. Carlos Colmenarez blistered a base knock off the right field wall to move Peguero to third to set things up for Christopher Barate. Barate lined a single to shallow center, plating Peguero and making the score to 2-1. After that, Martin punched out Narciso Polanco to end the fifth, and keep Columbia’s lead in half.

Game Two

Charleston scratched the score column first. Noah Myers hit a one out single in the bottom of the first. After a Woo Shin two out single, Nicholas Regalado sent a wild pitch home that allowed Myers to scamper home to break the scoreless tie.

The Boiled Peanuts added another run in the bottom of the fourth. Blake Robertson smoked a lead-off double up the right field line and then advanced to third and home on back-to-back ground outs, pushing Charleston’s lead to 2-0 at the halfway point.

The Fireflies got their only run of the game in the fifth inning. Gabriel Silva slid a one out single to left field before Lizandro Rodriguez clobbered a ball off the glove of Noah Myers in the right field gap near the wall. Silva came around on an errant throw from second baseman Odalys Peguero on the play and at the time, Columbia cut Charleston’s lead to 2-1.

The Fireflies went with a whole staff approach to game two. Nicholas Regalado (L, 1-2) got the nod and allowed one run over a pair of innings. Ben Hernandez was the next arm out of the pen and he also allowed a single run in two frames. Finally Eduardo Herrera worked out of a jam to produce a scoreless fifth before passing the ball to Yimi Presinal who allowed a single run to score in the sixth inning.

The Fireflies continue their series with the Charleston RiverDogs tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Emmanuel Reyes (2-3, 3.24 ERA) takes the ball for Columbia and Charleston counters with RHP Owen Wild (1-0, 3.26 ERA).

Columbia kicks off Copa de la Diversion weekend presented by Southern Recipe Small Batch pork rinds tomorrow at Segra Park. We’re celebrating LatinX Culture in Columbia, we’ll have live music, dug out dancers and also will be giving away Los Chiccarones de Columbia soccer jerseys to the first 1,000 fans in attendance courtesy of Southern Recipe Small Batch. Buy your tickets now at ColumbiaFireflies.com.