CarL Columbia Fireflies

Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.1 at Carolina

May 1, 2024 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release


The Fireflies continue their series with the Carolina Mudcats tonight at 6:30 pm at Five County Stadium in Zebulon, North Carolina. Columbia trots RHP Felix Arronde (2-1, 3.00 ERA) to the bump and Carolina counters with RHP Daniel Corniel (0-0, 3.86 ERA).

Columbia returns home for 13 games in 13 days beginning May 7. The Fireflies welcome The Salem Red Sox and the Charleston RiverDogs to Segra Park during the run ending May 19. The club has tons of fun promotions on tap, including Star Wars Night May 11 and a Frank Mozzicato Bobblehead Giveaway May 10. Buy your tickets today at ColumbiaFireflies.com.

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FIREFLIES DROP OPENER 8-3 IN CAROLINA: The Fireflies lost the series opener 8-3 to the Carolina Mudcats Tuesday night at Five County Stadium. Columbia allowed Mudcats lead-off hitter Daniel Guilarte to score four times in the game. Blake Mitchell got Columbia (12-9) on the board with a two out, solo homer to right field in the fifth inning. The round tripper launched 402 feet off Mitchell's bat and knocked Mudcats (16-6) starter Manuel Rodriguez (W, 1-2) out of the game. Rodriguez finished the night one out shy of a quality start, allowing a pair of hits and one run in 5.2 innings to pair with seven punchouts. Columbia's rally continued in the top of the seventh inning. Austin Charles walked to kick things off. Next, Erick Pena slapped a single to third prior to a throwing error that allowed Charles to come all the way home from first to cut Carolina's lead to 5-2. Later in the inning, Lizandro Rodriguez properly executed a safety squeeze, bunting up the third base line with two outs to bring Pena home to make it 5-3.

LIFTING LIZANDRO: After a slow start to the season, second baseman Lizandro Rodriguez's bat has started to wake up his last few games. Since Friday, Rodriguez has gone 5-10 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI to raise his batting average from .179 to .245 after 13 games. Rodriguez is in part of his third season with Columbia. In 2022, he hit .290 in 18 games and in 2023 he hit .235 in 118 games in the Carolina League.

IT'S ALL ROSES HERE: Jarold Rosado has been great out of the bullpen this season. He has a 2.45 ERA after allowing a 10.38 ERA in 2023. His success continued in two appearances (3 IP, 5 K) last week. On the season, the young pitcher has worked 11 innings in seven games. He has allowed three earned runs and punched out 14. The real secret to his success this year is that his walk rate is down from 16.7% in 2023 to only 4.3% in 2024.

MARVELOUS MITCHELL: The Fireflies back stop has been riding a hot streak fueled by patience at the plate. He currently is tied for the longest on-base streak in the Carolina League, an 18-game stretch that began April 6. On the run he is 19-65 (.292) with an incredible 20 walks which have pushed his on-base percentage to .465 on the run. Yesterday, Mitchell went 1-3 with a walk to start off the series in Carolina. He mashed his third homer of the year to get the Fireflies on the board. The Fireflies' longest on-base streak in team history belongs to River Town, who reached safely in 33-consecutive games from June 9-July 23 in 2022. He's the only Fireflies player who has reached safely in more than 25-consecutive games since 2020.

POWERING PENA: Saturday night, Fireflies outfielder Erick Pena mashed his Carolina League-leading fourth round tripper of the season. He's currently eighth in the Carolina League with a .485 on-base percentage. Pena has had a storied career with Columbia. He made the Opening Day Roster in 2022 and started his career with a bang, launching a walk-off homer against the Augusta GreenJackets on Opening Night. All-in-all he has mashed 23 homers in the neon and navy, nine in 2022, 10 in 2023 and four this year. It places him second on the Fireflies all-time homer leadboard, behind Dash Winningham (25 in 2016 and 2017) and tied with Juan Carlos Negret (23 in 2021).

SKID: After an electric start to the 2024 campaign, Columbia has grinded to a halt the last five games, finding themselves 1.5 games behind the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for first in the South Division. The Fireflies have dropped four of their last five games after an 11-5 start to the campaign.

Check out the Columbia Fireflies Statistics



Carolina League Stories from May 1, 2024


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