Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.3 at Carolina
Published on May 3, 2024 under 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. RHP Blake Wolters (0-0, 4.26 ERA) takes the ball for Columbia and Carolina counters with RHP Josh Knoth (0-1, 3.09 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 PLUNGED 16-2 THURSDAY NIGHT: The Columbia Fireflies fell behind early and suffered their largest loss of the 2024 campaign, 16-2 to the Carolina Mudcats Thursday night at Five County Stadium. The Mudcats pulled away in the bottom of the third inning. They scored five runs as seven straight runners reached to start the inning. At the end of the inning, Carolina took a 6-1 lead to the break. It was the second of four-consecutive innings where the Mudcats scored. They plated one in the second, five in the third, four in the fourth and two in the fifth to take a dominating 12-1 lead. The Mudcats added another four runs in the eighth inning on a pair of homers from Daniel Guilarte and Miguel Briceno to make their lead 16-2 prior to the end of the game. Brennon McNair got the Fireflies on the board in the top of the third inning with his first round-tripper of 2024.
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: Wednesday, 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.
NAVIGATING SOME MUDDY WATER: Last night the Fireflies troubles with the Mudcats culminated in a 16-2 defeat. So far this series, the team is hitting .168 (17-101) with only five hits in 24 opportunities with runners in scoring position. Yesterday, the Mudcats went 12-21 with runners threatening. The pitching staff's ERA has also ballooned on the season, moving to 6.75 after the slugfest. Finally, after leading the league in fielding percentage, Columbia has committed eight errors in the first three games of the series.
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 seven games, finding themselves 2.5 games behind the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for first in the South Division. The Fireflies have dropped six of their last seven games after an 11-5 start to the campaign.
COMING HOME: The Fireflies are 4-6 on the road and 8-4 at home this year and return to Segra Park Tuesday for a 13-game homestand.
Carolina League Stories from May 3, 2024
- Walk-off Walk Seals Lengthy Comeback for GreenJackets in 6-5 Victory - Augusta GreenJackets
- Columbia Downs Mudcats, 9-1 - Carolina Mudcats
- Nats Pull Away From Ducks In 6th, Win 7-2 - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Birds Blanked by Red Sox 7-0 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- RiverDogs Issue Game-Winning Walk in Ninth, Suffer Devastating 6-5 Defeat - Charleston RiverDogs
- Delmarva Wins Second Straight over Fayetteville - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Hillcats Suffer Loss To Kannapolisks - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Woodpeckers Come up Short in Delmarva - Fayetteville Woodpeckers
- Everyone Reaches in Columbia's 9-1 Win - Columbia Fireflies
- Wilkinson Wins Carolina League Pitcher of the Month for April - Lynchburg Hillcats
- Shorebirds Welcome Community Bank Delaware as New Banking Partner - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.3 at Carolina - Columbia Fireflies
- Pimentel Wins Carolina League Player of the Month - Fredericksburg Nationals
- 2024 Fireflies Kids Club Membership On-Sale Now - Columbia Fireflies
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