Fireflies Swept in Twin Bill vs Mudcats

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies were swept 8-7 and 7-3 in a doubleheader vs the Carolina Mudcats Saturday night at Segra Park.

Game One

The Mudcats upended Columbia with two outs in the top of the seventh of game one. With two runners on, Jeferson Quero belted his fourth homer of the year to the home run porch to push Carolina in front 7-5. The next batter, Hedbert Perez hit his second homer of the game to provide another run of insurance. It’s the first time a Fireflies opponent hit back-to-back homers against Columbia since Bryson Horne and Willie Carter did so for the Augusta GreenJackets June 29, 2021.

In the home half of the frame, Daniel Vazquez doubled to score River Town to bring the tying run to the plate. With two outs, Carter Jensen lined a base knock to center to score Vazquez and bring the Fireflies within a single run.

Columbia jumped in-front of the Mudcats behind a five-run fourth inning. Two hits marked the difference, as Columbia scored all of their runs with a pair of outs. David Hollie roped a double down the left field line to score Dayton Dooney and Erick Peña to make it a one-score game. Then with Hollie and Felix Familia aboard, Enrique Valdez launched his fourth homer of the season off Pablo Garabitos to put the Fireflies in front 5-3.

The Carolina Mudcats edged ahead when Hedbert Perez lasered his eighth homer of the season onto the berm in right field on the first pitch of the second inning to break the scoreless tie.

The next inning, Eduardo Garcia smoked a two-out pitch over the left-field wall to make it 2-0 before Jeferson Quero singled and eventually came around on a pair of errors. Exiting the third, Columbia trailed 3-0.

Game Two

The Fireflies lost game two 7-3 to Carolina and five homers were slapped between the two teams.

Starting in the top of the fourth inning, Carolina scored five unanswered runs, utilizing homers from Jheremy Vargas and Eduardo Garcia, as well as a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly to go up 7-2 over Columbia.

River Town hit his team-leading eighth homer of the season to right center, scoring Enrique Valdez to tie the game 2-2 in the home half of the third.

Carter Jensen matched Town with a solo shot in the sixth to bring Columbia within four.

Jackson Chourio started the scoring off, belting his seventh homer of the season to right to plate Eduardo Garcia to give Carolina a 2-0 lead.

The Fireflies close out their series with the Carolina Mudcats tomorrow at Segra Park at 5:05 pm. RHP Luinder Avila (3-5, 5.63 ERA) gets the nod for Columbia and RHP Stiven Cruz (1-2, 4.22 ERA) will counter for Carolina.

Tomorrow marks the conclusion of Negro League Weekend at Segra Park. We’ll be honoring those who played in the Negro Leagues the entire weekend. Tomorrow is also a Sunday Funday where Fireflies players will sign autographs from 4-4:15 pm inside the gates of Segra Park and following the game, kids can run the bases for free. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.