Squires Puts Grand Touch on Doubleheader Sweep

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies used a walk-off grand slam from Brett Squires to sweep a doubleheader with the Shorebirds, 11-4 and 11-7 Saturday night at Segra Park.

Game 1

Columbia led tape-to-tape in game one, winning 11-4 to kick things off.

The Fireflies matched Delmarva in the first inning, loading the bases, but leaving them stranded without scoring. In the second inning, the Fireflies got their bats moving, taking advantage of five walks, a hit batter and an error to score seven runs and move starter Luis De Leon (L, 3-1) out of the game. Lizandro Rodriguez and Jared Dickey closed out the inning with back-to-back RBI singles to start the game off in front 7-0 moving to the third inning.

The scoring didn’t stop there for Columbia. Carson Roccaforte started the third inning with a double down the line and came around on a Brett Squires base knock to right field to move Columbia’s lead to 8-0. Later, Austin Charles hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right-center to score Trevor Werner as Columbia headed to the halfway point in game one in front 9-0.

When Columbia scored, they scored in bunches. In the fifth inning, Carson Roccaforte singled and Trevor Werner walked to set the table with one out for Brett Squires, who ripped an RBI single to right, increasing Columbia’s lead to 10-4. The next batter, Lizandro Rodriguez, lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Werner and give us the final score, 11-4.

Walks were the difference for the Fireflies in game one. Columbia hitters were issued an incredible nine free passes in just six innings.

Felix Arronde had a beautiful start for Columbia. After stranding the bases loaded in the first inning, the righty locked down the Shorebirds. Working 4.2 innings without allowing an earned run and punching out eight Shorebirds in his Carolina League debut.

The Fireflies only needed to use Oscar Rayo (W, 5-2) from the bullpen to clinch the win. Rayo also didn’t allow an earned run as he spun 2.1 innings to close out the contest. The Fireflies four runs allowed all came in the fifth inning after two errors were committed to start the frame.

Game 2

Brett Squires sent everyone home happy with a walk-off grand slam as Columbia took game two 11-7 in nine innings.

Jared Dickey led off the ninth with inherited runner Lizandro Rodriguez on second, after rolling a single to right, Rodriguez came around to tie the game 7-7. After that, Daniel Vazquez drew a one out walk and then the Shorebirds elected to intentionally walk Trevor Werner to set up Squires with the bases loaded.

Trevor Werner did it again, smashing a homer to the left field berm on a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game 5-5 for Columbia. It was Werner’s seventh homer in his last 11 games and his third RBI of the day.

In the top of the eighth, Delmarva was able to take the lead, scoring the inherited runner, Stiven Acevedo on a Matthew Etzel single to take the lead. The Fireflies answered in the bottom of the eighth when Brett Squires came around on a balk from Randy Bereguete.

In the back-and-forth contest, Delmarva had Tavien Josenberger reach on an error and then Stiven Acevedo cranked his third round-tripper of the series to put Delmarva back on top 5-4 in the top of the fifth before Columbia could record their first out with the lead.

Enmanuel Pire and Omar Florentino led off the fourth with back-to-back singles to set the table for the Fireflies in the fourth. Daniel Vazqeuz brought Pire around with an RBI double to tie the game 3-3, then Spencer Nivens sent a charge to center field deep enough to plate Florentino and flip the script on the Shorebirds as Columbia took a 4-3 lead.

Columbia jumped out in front again thanks to some walks from the Shorebirds pitching staff. Daniel Vazquez and Spencer Nivens got aboard thanks to the free pass from Alfred Vega, then Trevor Werner ripped a double down the left field line to plate Vazquez to break the scoreless tie without an out. Later, Hayden Dunhurst drew a walk with the bases loaded to bring Nivens home to give Columbia a 2-0 lead.

Delmarva struck back for a trio of runs in the third inning. The stars of the inning were Tavien Josenberger and Jalen Vasquez, who both hit RBI triples to flip the script and put the Shorebirds on top 3-2.

Emmanuel Reyes worked 5.2 innings in this one, allowing five runs, in the no decision. Columbia finished the night using only four pitchers over the course of the twin bill.

The Fireflies close out their home slate of games with a 5:05 match-up with the Delmarva Shorebirds tomorrow at Segra Park. RHP Mauricio Veliz (5-6, 4.81 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and on the other end, southpaw Juan Rojas (1-2, 6.38 ERA) will take the ball.

Tomorrow night is Fan Appreciation Night at Segra Park. We’ll have a host of food and beverage specials, including $1 fountain sodas, $2 12 oz cans of Miller Lite, domestic drafts, hot dogs and popcorn, $3 craft drafts and cocktails and $5 Whiteclaw Seltzers. We’ll have pre-game catch on the field, post-game kids run the bases and a post-game full team autograph session. If that weren’t enough, we’ll also have fireworks after the game! Tickets to our blowout celebration start at $7 and are available at FirefliesTickets.com.