Fireflies Drop Third Straight to Down East

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies got on the board in the top of the first, but were unable to generate much more offense, as they fell 5-2 to the Down East Wood Ducks Saturday night at Grainger Stadium.

Down East swung the tide of the game in the fourth inning. Yosy Galan put Down East in front with a two-run homer, plating Cameron Cauley to make the score 2-1. The next inning, Alejandro Osuna singled to score Cauley a second time before Galan struck again with a base knock of his own to put the Wood Ducks in front 4-1.

The Wood Ducks added one additional run in the bottom of the seventh on Cauley’s second homer of the season.

Columbia broke the scoreless tie in the top of the first inning. Jean Ramirez led the contest off with a triple and he came around on an Omar Hernandez grounder. The Fireflies second run took until the eighth to score. On River Town’s third hit of the game, he slugged his team-leading 12th homer of the season to right field.

Frank Mozzicato (L, 0-4) spun 4.2 innings, tossing a career-most 89 pitches while setting aside six batters via the strikeout. After that, Ryan Hennen spun 2.1 innings, allowing a single run before Tim Holdgrafer worked a scoreless eighth inning to close out the game for Columbia.

Columbia closed out their series with the Wood Ducks tomorrow afternoon at Grainger Stadium at 1 pm. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-4, 4.27 ERA) climbs the bump for the Fireflies and Down East counters with RHP Winston Santos (4-3, 3.78 ERA).

Columbia heads home July 22-24 after the All-Star Break for a weekend series. The Fireflies will have a t-shirt giveaway, a fireworks show and will host Night Under the Big Top, bringing the circus lifestyle to Segra Park. Saturday’s game caps off with the Fireflies shooting a man out of a cannon on the field prior to a Fireworks show! For tickets, visit FirefliesTickets.com.