CarL Columbia Fireflies

Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 7.10 at Charleston

July 10, 2024 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release


The Fireflies continue their series with the Charleston RiverDogs tonight at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Jonatan Bernal (0-0, 2.25 ERA) takes the ball for Columbia and Charleston counters with LHP Drew Dowd (2-4, 3.33 ERA)

The Fireflies return home Friday, July 19 for the start of Dino Weekend! Join us as we have a Mason Triceratops Bobblehead giveaway July 19, Jurassic World Night July 20 and we'll bring back Ed's Dinosaurs real life interactive dinosaurs Sunday, July 21. Buy your tickets now at ColumbiaFireflies.com.

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FIREFLIES BLANKED BY CHARLESTON: The Fireflies bullpen offered four scoreless innings, but the offense never jump started as Columbia lost 8-0 to Charleston following a one hour and 16 minute rain delay Tuesday night at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Charleston jumped on the board first in the second inning. Enderson Delgado and Noah Myers slapped back-to-back doubles to start the inning to take a 1-0 lead. Later, Charleston strolled ahead, scoring five runs in the third inning. Narciso Polanco started the inning with a single and then came around on an Adrian Santana triple to make the score 2-0. After a ground out, the RiverDogs roped four-consecutive hits off Fireflies starter Logan Martin (L, 1-3), culminating in a Carlos Colmenarez that scored Delgado and Myers and pushed Charleston's lead to 6-0.

GOING STREAKING: Catcher Dionmy Salon is riding a hot streak for Columbia. He is on his longest hitting streak of the season, a 10-game stretch that began June 9 and is the second-longest active hitting streak in the Carolina League. He trails Esteban Gonzalez who has hit in 13-consecutive games for the Lynchburg Hillcats. Salon is 13-30 (.433) on the run and has five RBI. Salon has increased his batting average from .165 to .232 during the strech which encapsulates over one quarter of his games played this season. Columbia's backstop has also scored a run in three-straight games, which is the longest active streak for a Fireflies player.

KICKING WITH KIRKLAND: In Doug Kirkland's last eight outings, he has allowed just one earned run spanning 14.1 innings of work (0.63 ERA). In that time, he has 17 punchouts and his opponents are hitting .119 against him. In his first full professional season, Kirkland is 3-3 with a 2.60 ERA. He has an outlandish 37 strikeouts in 27.2 innings and opponents are hitting just .176 against him this season.

I CAN SEE THE FUTURE: Tuesday, Major League Baseball announced their All-Star Future's game rosters, which contained a pair of former Fireflies player. RHP Ben Kudrna was Kansas City's second rounder in 2021 and after spinning a 3.48 ERA in 17 starts in 2022, he was named the Columbia Fireflies Pitcher of the Year by the Royals. Gavin Cross was also named to the roster. The outfielder was selected in the first round of the 2022 draft out of Virginia Tech and reached base safely in his final 22 games with the Fireflies that same season.

THIS IS 40: Thursday night, Austin Charles drove in a pair of RBI, giving him 40 on the young season. In 2023 only three Fireflies finished the season with 40 or more RBI: Brett Squires (69), Lizandro Rodriguez (44) and Daniel Vazquez (43). The Fireflies single-season RBI record belongs to Juan Carlos Negret, who drove in 76 runs in a shortened 2021 season thanks in part to a franchise record 23 homers in a single season.

MUCH-NEEDED BREAK: The Fireflies got back-to-back days off prior to the trip to Charleston and following this week, the team will enjoy the four-day All-Star Break. After finishing second in the South Division in the first half of the 2024 campaign, the Fireflies are half a game back of the RiverDogs for first place in the South Division in the second half. Following the six-game set, Columbia has 46 games remaining in the season to knock on the door of the franchise's first playoff berth.

TRY AGAIN: Last night was the seventh time this season that the Fireflies have been shutout by their opponent.

Check out the Columbia Fireflies Statistics



Carolina League Stories from July 10, 2024


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