Mitchell Homers Twice in Loss at Kannapolis
Kannapolis, NC – Blake Mitchell showed off his power bat Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers as Columbia fell 14-5 at Atrium Health Ballpark. Blake Mitchell got the Fireflies on the board with his team-leading seventh round tripper in the top of the third
Kannapolis, NC – Blake Mitchell showed off his power bat Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers as Columbia fell 14-5 at Atrium Health Ballpark.
Blake Mitchell got the Fireflies on the board with his team-leading seventh round tripper in the top of the third inning. His solo shot cut Kannapolis’s lead to 6-1. His monster homer was launched at 110 MPH and went 475 feet to right field.
He added a second homer in the top of the seventh to give the Fireflies five runs on the night. It was Columbia’s second multi-homer game of the season as Mitchell joined Austin Charles in accomplishing the feat this year. It was the first multi-homer game of the Royals’ 2023 first rounder’s career.
The Cannon Ballers jumped out in the first inning, tagging Fireflies starter, Felix Arronde (L, 2-4) for six runs in 0.2 innings. The big blow came from Matt Hogan who roped his fourth homer of the season, a three-run blast with two outs to make it a 6-0 ball game as Arronde exited with his shortest outing of the season.
Kannapolis added another trio of runs in the bottom of the third. Rikuu Nishida doubled with the bases loaded to plate Drake Logan, Matt Hogan and Wilber Sanchez and increase Kannapolis’s lead to 9-1. Their 10th run came around the next inning on a Ben Hernandez balk.
The home team added three in the sixth and one in the eighth to round out their 14-run night.
In the top of the fifth, Derlin Figueroa came to the plate with the bases loaded and he punched a single into left field to score Mitchell and Daniel Vazquez to cut the Cannon Ballers lead to 10-3.
Columbia continues their series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tomorrow night at 7 pm at Atrium Health Ballpark. LHP Hunter Patteson (2-3, 3.73 ERA) gets the nod for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with righty Grant Taylor (0-0, 3.97 ERA).
The Fireflies return to Segra Park June 4 to start a set with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. Help the team unmask some villains Saturday, June 8 for Scooby-Doo! Night presented by Escapology. The club will also be giving away a piece of history, as the first 1,000 fans will receive a Tyler Tolbert Bobblehead Friday, June 7 thanks to SAFE Federal Credit Union. Buy your tickets now at ColumbiaFireflies.com.