Columbia Falls in Extras in Finale at Segra Park
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies took the lead early, but couldn’t hold on, falling 5-4 in 10 innings Sunday evening at Segra Park. Chazz Martinez (L, 6-8) was brilliant, spinning 3.1 innings without allowing an earned run. He entered the game and stranded two inherited runners with a ground out,
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies took the lead early, but couldn’t hold on, falling 5-4 in 10 innings Sunday evening at Segra Park.
Chazz Martinez (L, 6-8) was brilliant, spinning 3.1 innings without allowing an earned run. He entered the game and stranded two inherited runners with a ground out, but in the 10th, he allowed a two out single to Randy Florentino that plated TT Bowens to give the Shorebirds a 5-4 lead.
The big blow came in the fourth inning for Columbia. Brett Squires started the rally cry with a triple. After a two out walk to Spencer Nivens, Lizandro Rodriguez roped his seventh homer of the series to the home run porch to make Columbia’s lead 4-0 heading to the fifth inning.
Columbia was able to etch the score column first in the finale. After back-to-back singles from Lizandro Rodriguez and Dionmy Salon to start the third, Columbia had runners at the corners and no outs for Jared Dickey, who lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Rodriguez and pushing Columbia to a 1-0 lead.
Delmarva mounted a rally in the top of the fifth, scoring three runs before the first out of the inning was recorded thanks in part to two walks and a throwing error. Tavian Josenberger had the only hit of the inning, a single, but once the Fireflies defense walked off the field, the Shorebirds trimmed the lead to 4-3.
They tied the game the next inning. Randy Florentino led the inning off with a double, moved up to third on a Mack Anglin wild pitch and came around on an Enrique Bradfield Jr. sacrifice fly to left to bring the score to 4-4. Anglin closed out the night with 1.2 innings of work, allowing only that run to score.
Mauricio Veliz left the game after five innings in-line for the win, despite allowing nine base runners. Veliz allowed three runs to score, only one of which were earned, but stranded five base runners in the first two innings to make it through. The righty tallied five strikeouts Sunday night.
Following the off day, Columbia heads to Myrtle Beach for their final series of the season. First pitch is set for 7:05 pm and both teams have yet to name their starters for the week.
For more information about the Columbia Fireflies and updates on events at Segra Park this offseason, visit ColumbiaFireflies.com.