Columbia Stumbles Late in 6-2 Loss
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies bullpen faltered late, allowing three runs in the eighth, as Columbia fell 6-2 to the Salem Red Sox Saturday night at Salem Memorial Ballpark. Frank Mozzicato got back on the right track in Saturday’s game vs Salem. The southpaw retired each of the first nine
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies bullpen faltered late, allowing three runs in the eighth, as Columbia fell 6-2 to the Salem Red Sox Saturday night at Salem Memorial Ballpark.
Frank Mozzicato got back on the right track in Saturday’s game vs Salem. The southpaw retired each of the first nine hitters he faced, punching out a career-high five of them. Columbia’s started lasted 3.1 innings before getting yanked after throwing 58 pitches. He would allow two runs to score after leaving the contest. Both runners reached base off the free pass, as Mozzicato didn’t allow a hit in the ball game.
Salem (27-23) scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth. Phillip Sikes started the frame off with a triple off reliever Ben Wereski (L, 0-2). He scored after Red Soxs’ top prospect, Marcelo Mayer launched a sacrifice fly to center to give Salem a 3-2 edge.
The Red Sox vaulted ahead of Columbia (14-36) in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs and two on, Nathan Hickey got a huge hit for the second time this series. This time, Hickey doubled to right to score a pair and would come around on another double, this time from Blaze Jordan to put Salem ahead 6-2.
The Fireflies started out the scoring in the top of the second inning. Second baseman Brainer Bonaci made a fielding error, allowing Enrique Valdez to reach and Erick Peña to score all the way from second.
After Salem scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, Rubendy Jaquez countered with a triple in the top of the sixth, scoring Darryl Collins, who drew a walk to lead-off the frame, to tie the game 2-2.
The Fireflies close out their series with the Salem Red Sox tomorrow at 5:05 pm at Salem Memorial Ballpark. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-3, 5.66 ERA) gets his second start of the series for Columbia tomorrow and Salem counters with RHP Juan Daniel Encarnacion (4-3, 4.20 ERA).
Columbia returns home for a two-week homestand June 7-19 that includes two Budweiser Thirsty Thursdays, two Freebie Fridays, two firework shows and the return of Negro League Weekend! Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.