CarL Columbia Fireflies

Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.10 vs Salem

Published on May 10, 2024 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release


Columbia continues their series with the Salem Red Sox tonight at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Logan Martin (0-0, 6.23 ERA) climbs the hill for Columbia and Salem counters with southpaw Noah Dean (0-2, 7.36 ERA).

Tonight Fireflies fans have a chance to take home their own piece of Columbia baseball history! The first 1,000 fans through the gates at Segra Park will receive a Frank Mozzicato Bobblehead courtesy of Velocity Clinical Research. Gates open at 6 pm and you'll want to get here early to take home the Columbia strikeout king's bobblehead and be able to collect the highest-drafted player in Fireflies history's merchandise. Buy your tickets now at ColumbiaFireflies.com.

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BOSACKER DELIVERS, FIREFLIES FALL TO SALEM: The Fireflies were led by yet another impressive pitching performance by Ethan Bosacker on Thursday night. Bosacker allowed a single run in six innings as he earned his second quality start of the season. Despite the good start, the Fireflies fell to the Salem Red Sox 5-3. Columbia is now 0-3 this season when their starters throw a quality start. Bosacker has excelled against Carolina League hitters in 2024. In 30.2 innings pitched, Bosacker has only allowed four earned runs. That amounts to a 1.17 ERA, second only to Matt Wilkinson of Lynchburg among all qualified Carolina League hurlers. Salem struck first in the score column. Jhostynxon Garcia socked his third homer of the season in the second inning. The round-tripper just barely hooked around the left field foul pole.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Thursday, left-handed hitter Derlin Figueroa mashed his third homer of the season. It was a two-run blast that produced the only runs of the day for Columbia. All three of the infielders homers have come at Segra Park this year and all three of them have gone out to the right field lawn area.

MOVING ON UP: Ethan Bosacker, has the second-best ERA in the Carolina League, a 1.09 mark that is just .28 behind League leader Matt Wilkinson. Lynchburg's starter last pitched May 7 and allowed multiple runs in an outing for the first time on the year. Bosacker is also third in opposing average (.159) and first in WHIP (0.75) in the Carolina League.

HITTING FOR AVERAGE: This season, the Fireflies own the third-best batting average in the Carolina League, a .237 mark. The club's on-base percentage (.349) is also the third-best in the 12 team league. Despite getting a lot of base runners this year and allowing the second-fewest runs in the circuit this season, Columbia sits just one game above .500 after 27 games. Heading into Friday's game, Columbia sits 1.5 games back of the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for first place in the South Division.

IT'S ALL ROSES HERE: Jarold Rosado has been great out of the bullpen this season. He has a 1.93 ERA after allowing a 10.38 ERA in 2023. His success continued in his three appearances (5 IP, 9 K) since the start of last week. On the season, the young pitcher has worked 14 innings in nine games. He has allowed three earned runs and punched out 19. The real secret to his success this year is that his walk rate is down from 16.7% in 2023 to only 5.4% in 2024.

SPOILING QUALITY PRODUCTS: Thursday, Ethan Bosacker spun the Fireflies third quality start of the season as he exited in the seventh with Columbia leading 2-1. It was the righty's second quality start of the year. The other belongs to Felix Arronde. Surprisingly, the Fireflies record is 0-3 in games where their starter spins a quality start.

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 leaderboard, behind Dash Winningham (25 in 2016 and 2017) and tied with Juan Carlos Negret (23 in 2021).

Check out the Columbia Fireflies Statistics

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Carolina League Stories from May 10, 2024


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