Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 4.15 at Kannapolis
April 15, 2025 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies kick-off a series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tonight at Atrium Health Ballpark at 6:00 pm. Southpaw Jordan Woods (0-0, 0.00 ERA) takes the hill for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Ricardo Brizuela (0-1, 3.86 ERA).
Columbia closes out the month of April at Segra Park with some can't-miss promotions! The team is home from April 22-May 4 and will host USC Night presented by E.F. Martin April 24, Faith and Family Night presented by United Way of the Midlands April 26, Bluey at the Ballpark presented by South Carolina Department of Social Services May 3 and Star Wars Night presented by Founders Credit Union May 4. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
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RAMIREZ CATAPULTS COLUMBIA TO SERIES WIN: Ramon Ramirez pummeled the baseball, hitting a pair of homers and driving in six RBI for the Fireflies in a 9-3 win over the Charleston RiverDogs Sunday at Segra Park. The win clinched a series victory for Columbia. The Fireflies offense jump-started early Sunday. Asbel Gonzalez legged out an infield single to kick things off. Next, Colton Becker and Derlin Figueroa drew walks to set the table for Ramon Ramirez with one out. Columbia's catcher lifted a wall scraper over the left field wall. His first Carolina League homer was a grand slam to break the scoreless tie. Ramirez wasn't done there. He slashed a second homer to left with Figueroa on first base in the third, pushing the Fireflies lead to 6-2.
SPEED, I AM SPEED: Asbel Gonzalez swiped three more bases Sunday, adding to his Carolina League leading total. The center fielder has 13 stolen bases. The next closest base stealer is Luis Pena, who has 10 steals for the Mudcats in the 2025 season.
BULLISH ON THE PEN: Last week, the Fireflies bullpen was on a tear. Tuesday, Jordan Woods spun four innings without allowing an earned run to close out a 4-1 win for Columbia. Wednesday, the bullpen carried the bulk of the work load, spinning 7.1 innings while allowing a single run to score. The strong outing allowed Columbia to come-from-behind and win 8-3. Then Thursday, the bullpen worked 4.1 scoreless innings. This week, Columbia's pen has a 0.57 ERA which has lowered the season mark to 3.67.
WE'RE GOING STREAKING: Colton Becker is riding a six-game hitting streak for the Fireflies to kick-off his 2025 campaign. The righty is 7-19 at the plate with a .368 average since April 6 when the streak began. It is tied with Stone Russell for the longest hitting streak of the season for the Fireflies. The Fireflies have had two of seven hitting streaks that are at least six games in the Carolina League this year.
WE'RE ONLY GETTING STARTED: Ramon Ramirez had his second multi-hit game of the season Sunday--this time with a pair of homers. The righty became the second Fireflies player to notch six RBI in a game after hitting a grand slam and a two-run homer in the first three innings against Charleston. He joined Derlin Figueroa who accomplished the feat the previous Sunday at Augusta.
MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF: Derlin Figueroa has been on a roll to start the 2025 season and it continued Sunday against the Charleston RiverDogs when he slapped his third homer of the year. Figueroa leads the Carolina League with three homers and 12 RBI this year. Homer number three of the year gave Figueroa 16 in his Fireflies career, which is just a pair behind Blake Mitchell for fourth-most in Fireflies history.
FIRST ONE OF THE YEAR: The Fireflies won their first series of the 2025 season against the Charleston RiverDogs last week. After winning their first three games of the week, Columbia just needed to take Sunday's game to clinch the series win. After winning the series, Columbia sits one-game back of the Hickory Crawdads for first in the South Division. Columbia and Kannapolis are tied for second heading into their six-game set this week.
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Carolina League Stories from April 15, 2025
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- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 4.15 at Kannapolis - Columbia Fireflies
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