Fireflies Sully Pair of Leads in 9-8 Loss to Myrtle Beach

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies couldn’t hold onto an early lead, giving up three runs in the eighth to drop Thursday’s contest 9-8 vs the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Stadium.

Columbia (45-54) allowed three runs from the Pelicans offense in the eighth. After Taylor Bloye (L, 1-2) walked lead-off hitter Christian Franklin, he allowed back-to-back singles to Kevin Made and Jordan Nwogu to set the table for Owen Cassie, who laced a double to right that scored the two hitters and gave Myrtle Beach (50-49) their first lead of the game, 9-8. Gabriel Jaramillo (S, 4) earned the save, walking one, but keeping Columbia off the board in the top of the ninth.

Jose Marquez hit his second homer of the season for Columbia to break a 6-6 stalemate in the sixth inning. The Fireflies got an insurance run the next frame. Saul Garza walked to start off the inning, moved to third on a Felix Familia double and scored when Enrique Valdez hit a sacrifice fly. That fly gave Columbia an 8-6 lead.

Chih-Ting Wang was incredible on the mound for the Fireflies. The lefty allowed just a single hit across three innings while punching out a handful of Pelicans hitters. He stranded both of the runners he inherited from Kipp Rollings in the fifth inning and kept the Pelicans off the scoreboard until he was lifted at the start of the eighth.

The Fireflies came out of the gates strong against the Pelicans. In the top of the second inning, Saul Garza reached on an error before Felix Familia and Enrique Valdez had back-to-back hits. Jose Marquez reached after a wild pitch on a strikeout to bring the score to 2-0 in favor of Columbia prior to Matt Schmidt’s third homer of the season, a three-run shot to put the Fireflies up by a handful.

The Pelicans came roaring back though. The Birds scored one in the fourth and had their way with reliever Kipp Rollings in the fifth. The reliever ceded four earned runs while just recording a single out. Rollings allowed seven consecutive batters to reach base safely before being lifted from the game.

The Fireflies continue their series with the Pelicans at TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans stadium tomorrow at 7:05 pm. RHP Adrian Alcantara (4-7, 5.08 ERA) gets the ball for Columbia while Myrtle Beach counters with RHP Jose Miguel Gonzalez (4-5, 4.55 ERA).

The Fireflies return home to Segra Park for a six-game homestand with the Charleston RiverDogs August 31. It all starts with a Miller Lite $2 Tuesday where hot dogs, popcorn, fountain soda and 12 oz cans of Miller Lite are all only $2. You can purchase tickets at FirefliesTickets.com.