Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.2 at Carolina
May 2, 2024 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continue their series with the Carolina Mudcats tonight at Five County Stadium at 6:30 pm. LHP Hunter Patteson (1-1, 1.62 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Carolina counters with RHP Jesus Rivero (2-1, 4.11 ERA).
Columbia returns home for 12 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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COLUMBIA DROPS PITCHER'S DUEL 2-1 IN 12 INNINGS: The Columbia Fireflies found themselves in a pitcher's duel Wednesday night at Five County Stadium. Despite no-hitting the Carolina Mudcats through five innings, the Fireflies ended up on the short end, losing 2-1 in 12 innings. Felix Arronde was incredible Wednesday. The righty went five innings before he allowed his first hit and finished the game with a quality start.
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 2.25 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 12 innings in eight games. He has allowed three earned runs and punched out 15. The real secret to his success this year is that his walk rate is down from 16.7% in 2023 to only 6% in 2024.
SPOILING QUALITY PRODUCTS: Yesterday, Felix Arronde worked six, one-run innings for his first quality start of the season. He held the Mudcats hitless through five innings, but it didn't end up being enough. The bats couldn't add some run support and the Fireflies lost 2-1 in 12 innings. So far this season, the Fireflies pitching staff has spun two quality starts. The other belongs to Ethan Bosacker. The Fireflies record is 0-2 in those two games.
MARVELOUS MITCHELL: All good things eventually have to come to an end and yesterday, Blake Mitchell's 18-game on-base streak came to an end. The streak was the second-longest on-base streak in the Carolina League in the 2024 season so far. On the run he was 19-65 (.292) with an incredible 20 walks which 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 six games, finding themselves 2.5 games behind the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for first in the South Division. The Fireflies have dropped five of their last six games after an 11-5 start to the campaign.
Carolina League Stories from May 2, 2024
- Fredericksburg Drops Wood Ducks 8-5 - Fredericksburg Nationals
- GreenJackets Fall 4-3 in Eleven Inning Pitchers' Duel - Augusta GreenJackets
- RiverDogs Win 11-Inning Thriller 4-3 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Shorebirds' Walk-off Sinks Fayetteville Thursday Night - Fayetteville Woodpeckers
- Shorebirds Rally to Walk-Off Fayetteville - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Pelicans Fall Short in 5-3 Loss to Red Sox - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Error Allows Kannapolis to Escape with Win - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Mudcats Soar Past Columbia - Carolina Mudcats
- Fireflies Plunged 16-2 Thursday Night - Columbia Fireflies
- Homestand Preview: RiverDogs Prepare to Defend the Joe in First Ever Visit from FredNats - Charleston RiverDogs
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.2 at Carolina - Columbia Fireflies
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