Pitching Name of the Game in Doubleheader Split

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Fireflies rode strong pitching to a doubleheader split against the Augusta GreenJackets at SRP Park Thursday night. Columbia allowed just one run over 14 innings, lowering their staff’s ERA to 3.27 in 2021.

Game 1

Columbia (1-2) dropped a tough one to start off the night, 1-0. Both starters dueled it out for four scoreless frames before handing the game to their respective bullpens. Anderson Paulino allowed just a pair of hits in his Low-A East debut for the Fireflies.

The game remained scoreless heading into the top of the seventh inning when Columbia loaded the bases with a pair of outs. Justin Yeager (W, 1-0) and the GreenJackets (2-1) gifted the Fireflies the bases after the pitcher threw the ball away to allow Diego Hernandez to get to first and then issued a pair of walks to Tyler Tolbert and Darryl Collins.

Following a mound visit, Yeager struck out Maikel Garcia on three pitches to end the inning. In the home half of the inning, Delvin Capellan (L, 0-1) walked Bryson Horne and Cade Bunnell before hitting Ricardo Rodriguez with a pitch to put ducks on the pond with nobody out. Cam Shepherd lined out hard to third baseman Jake Means, who was able to step on the pillow to double up the lead runner Braulio Vasquez, who was pinch running for Horne, to put the Fireflies one out away from extra innings. Instead, Drew Campbell was able to play hero. The right fielder was able to poke a single between first and second to plate Bunnell and win the game.

Game 2

Lefty A.J. Block led the way in game two, offering four, one-hit innings while fanning eight GreenJackets batters to pave Columbia to a 5-0 win at SRP Park.

The Fireflies bats snapped a 17-inning scoreless streak that began following the first inning of the first game of the season yesterday in the third inning of game two. Maikel Garcia popped a sacrifice fly to left to usher Rubendy Jaquez home to give Columbia a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Brady McConnell blasted a double down the left field line to bring Herard Gonzalez home and put the Fireflies up 2-0.

A few innings later the Fireflies were able to add three more runs to go up 5-0 in the fifth. Kale Emshoff and Felix Familia were able to launch back to back RBI doubles to push Columbia’s lead to 4-0. Later, a wild pitch would bring Familia home to plate Columbia’s final run of the inning.

Matt Stil came out after Block for Columbia. The righty spun 2.2 scoreless frames before handing the ball to Ismael Aquino to get the final out for Columbia.

The series between the Fireflies and GreenJackets continues tomorrow evening at 7 pm at SRP Park. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will get the nod for Columbia, while Augusta will opt for righty Chad Bryant (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

The Fireflies return home to Segra Park May 11 to take on the Charleston RiverDogs for six games. Tickets are on sale at FirefliesTickets.com.