Strom, Franco Stay Sharp in Another Slugfest
August 23, 2017 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
GREENVILLE, SC - For a second straight night, Columbia and Greenville combined for 21 runs. This time, the home team got the better of the Fireflies. Columbia dropped the middle game of the series, 16-5, on Wednesday night at Fluor Field. The Fireflies had pummeled the Drive on Tuesday, 14-7, but couldn't keep the Greenville bats down for long. The teams have combined for 42 runs and 45 hits in the first two games of the series.
Ian Strom and J.J. Franco each reached base multiple times on Wednesday. Strom finished 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI while Franco wound up going 2-for-3 at the dish with a walk. Over the last 10 games, Strom and Franco are hitting .394 and .382 respectively. The duo has created a powerful punch at the top of the batting order.
The Fireflies fell behind 1-0 in the first inning and 9-0 after two. Greenville (71-57) scored eight runs against Marty Anderson (L, 0-4) in the second, but all eight runs were unearned (the first two Drive batters reached on errors). The big inning was capped with Ryan Scott's grand slam over the right-field wall.
Anderson settled down and did not allow a run over the next three innings. The southpaw gutted through five innings, struck out seven and surrendered just one earned run.
Columbia's (65-62) first scores came in the sixth inning. Gene Cone used his speed to reach on an error, Andres Gimenez was hit by a pitch and then Franco loaded the bases after working a walk. The table was set for Strom, the Fireflies clean-up hitter, and the righty didn't disappoint. He looped a base hit into shallow right field that scored Cone. The bases stayed full for Dash Winningham, who bashed a double off the mini Green Monster in left. Two more runs came in and Columbia trailed, 9-3, at the end of five and half.
Roldani Baldwin stretched the lead back to seven for the home team in the bottom of the sixth. The righty launched his 14th homer of the season.
In the seventh, Brett Netzer extended the home team's lead to eight with an RBI double. The next batter, Bobby Dalbec, also shattered a two-bagger and that brought in two more runs. Dalbec later reached third and scored on a throwing error by Columbia's second baseman. In all, four runs came home and Greenville took a 14-3 lead into the eighth.
The team's each plated two runs in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth, respectively. Dan Rizzie and Cone were responsible for knocking in the Fireflies' runs in the final frame.
The series finale between Columbia and Greenville is Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Manager Jose Leger hands the baseball to Justin Brantley (2-1, 3.52). He'll face Drive right-hander Bryan Mata (3-6, 4.29).
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