Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 6.13 at Myrtle Beach
June 13, 2024 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continue their series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at Pelicans Ballpark tonight at 7:05 pm. RHP Ethan Bosacker (5-2, 2.41 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Myrtle Beach counters with RHP Jaxon Wiggins (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
Columbia returns home June 18 to play eight games in six days against the Carolina Mudcats. The Fireflies are kicking out all the stops with Miller Lite $2 Tuesday, Budweiser Thirsty Thursday and our new Friday and Saturday happy hours where fans can enjoy $5 drafts prior to first pitch. Saturday is also Bluey at the Ballpark night, presented by Cassell Brothers Home Services. Buy your tickets now at ColumbiaFireflies.com.
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SIX-RUN 10TH LEADS FIREFLIES TO VICTORY: The Fireflies scored 10 unanswered, including six in the 10th inning to rally past the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in a 10-6 win Wednesday night at Pelicans Ballpark. The Fireflies took their first lead of the series in the top of the 10th inning. Blake Mitchell started the inning at second and was bunted to third by Daniel Vazquez. Derlin Figueroa slapped a sacrifice fly to center to plate Mitchell granting Columbia a 5-4 lead. Later, Lizandro Rodriguez poked a single through the right side to plate Austin Charles and Erick Pena. The scoring didn't stop there though. Dionmy Salon came up with a pair of outs and dribbled his own single to score Rodriguez. Diego Guzman broke it open. Columbia's left fielder tattooed his first homer in the Carolina League off Jeral Vizcaino (L, 2-3).
FIRST-CLASS FIREFLIES: Columbia's pitching staff has been hot over the last week. In the team's last seven games, it is 7-1 with a 1.63 ERA. The club has 55 strikeouts in 72 innings of work while maintaining a 0.96 WHIP and a .196 opposing average. In all of Minor League Baseball (120 teams), The Fireflies have the best ERA and WHIP of all 120 teams and are ranked sixth in opposing batting average. Bowie leads Minor League Baseball with a .174 opposing average during the run. The team's ERA has decreased from 3.83 to 3.52 during the run. The bullpen has been particularly good, working a 3.12 ERA this season. that's the seventh-best bullpen ERA in Minor League Baseball, trailing Rocket City with a 2.27 mark.
ROCKING WITH REYES: After a difficult April, where Emmanuel Reyes recorded a 6.04 ERA in 25.1 innings across five starts, the righty has shut down his opponents. In his last five starts, Reyes is 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in 26 innings. Since May 1, Reyes has a balmy 1.12 WHIP and has worked five or more innings in four consecutive starts. Columbia's starter just turned 20 in May and is working in part of his second season in the Carolina League.
GET HIM STARTED: Last night, Diego Guzman got his first Carolina League hit in his fourth game for Columbia. He turned in a multi-hit game, showing fans what he displayed as he hit .343 with three homers in 17 games in the ACL.
TOUGH LUCK: Tuesday, Felix Arronde became the first Fireflies pitcher to lose five games this year. All-in-all, he's gotten some bad luck in the run support column. Arronde has three quality starts this season and an 0-2 record to go along with it. In the righty's 11 starts this year, the Fireflies have scored 10 runs across the 53 innings where he's been on the mound. In other words, Arronde has been averaging 1.70 runs of support per nine innings of work this season. That's the lowest mark in the starting rotation this year by a significant margin. The next lowest belongs to Hunter Patteson, who averaged 3.35 runs of support over 51 innings in 11 starts.
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).
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