Fireflies Group Together Late to Win in 11th

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Maikel Garcia came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 11th and cashed in to push the Columbia Fireflies to win 5-3 at TicketReturn.com at Pelicans Ballpark Tuesday night.

Rylan Kaufman had his best start of the season, working four one-hit innings with half a dozen strikeouts to allow the offense to get in front. Emilio Marquez (W, 2-0) bookended the evening with three scoreless innings himself while punching out four hitters.

The Pelicans started their rally in the seventh with a Jacob Wetzel home run, his first of the season. Then in the eighth, reliever Chase Wallace (BS, 1) allowed four hits, capping off the run with a Jordan Nwogu single that scored Flemin Bautista to tie the game 3-3.

The Fireflies offense started quickly again, a trend that started in the latter half of the series against Augusta. In the top of the second inning, Herard Gonzalez drove a base knock to right to plate Juan Carlos Negret. Two batters later, Maikel Garcia added his own base hit to bring home Felix Familia and increase Columbia’s lead to 2-0.

In the fourth, Darryl Collins drilled his second homerun of the season to right field to put the Fireflies in front 3-0.

Bailey Reid (L, 0-1) toed the rubber for both extra frames for the Pelicans, eventually giving up two runs to get the hook for the loss.

Columbia continues their series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans tomorrow evening at 7:05 pm at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark. RHP Adrian Alcantara (1-2, 4.91 ERA) gets the nod for the Fireflies and Myrtle Beach counters with southpaw DJ Herz (0-0, 0.75 ERA).

After two weeks on the road, the Fireflies will return home Tuesday, June 15 to start a six-game set with the Augusta GreenJackets. At that point, Columbia will play 12 games in 13 days at Segra Park that will include two fireworks shows, two t-shirt giveaways and much more. For tickets visit FirefliesTickets.com.