Negret’s Two Homer Night Paces Fireflies in 12-4 Win

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Columbia Fireflies offense exploded in a 12-4 win over the Charleston RiverDogs, rallying off of two homers and six RBI from Juan Carlos Negret at Segra Park Wednesday evening.

After Charleston (4-4) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, the Fireflies bats got going in the third frame. Maikel Garcia brought home Columbia’s first two runs with a base knock to center that scored Diego Hernandez and Felix Familia. That set things up for a Negret blast to score Garcia and Tyler Tolbert to push the Fireflies (5-3) in front 5-4. That homer stretched an 0-17 start to the season for Negret, and when he came to the plate in the eighth, he launched another three-run blast. It was the first multi-homer game for Columbia since Matt Winaker and Jose Brizuela had a pair of home runs apiece in Asheville August 5, 2018. His six RBI on the two launches were the most for a Fireflies hitter since Scott Manea accomplished the same feat July 2, 2018 at Augusta.

The offense wasn’t finished there. Kale Emshoff roped a triple into the right-center alley to clear a loaded set of bags and push Columbia to a 9-4 lead in the fifth.

The pitching staff rebounded from some early struggles. Matt Stil allowed four runs in the first inning, but then rallied to not allow another run to score for the remainder of the game. After that, Luis De Avila came in and started six frames of dominant bullpen play. He fanned a pair in the lone inning he pitched without allowing a hit. Then A.J. Block tallied four hitless innings while wringing up eight batters before Marlin Willis worked a hitless ninth with two strikeouts to set aside the RiverDogs.

The Fireflies are back in action tomorrow night against the RiverDogs. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-0, 6.75 ERA) takes the hill for the Fireflies and faces off against Charleston’s right Taj Bradley (0-1, 19.29 ERA). Gates will open at 5:30 pm at Segra Park for the 7:05 contest.

Tomorrow evening fans can celebrate the first Budweiser Thirsty Thursday of the 2021 campaign. New this year, pints of Bud Light are available at the Budweiser Bow Tie Bar in centerfield and in the remainder of the ballpark, fans will be treated to half priced draft beers and fountain sodas. For tickets to the ballgame, visit FirefliesTickets.com.