Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 8.25 at Carolina
August 25, 2023 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continue their series with the Carolina Mudcats with a 7 pm tilt at Five County Stadium. RHP Emmanuel Reyes (0-4, 4.95 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Carolina counters with RHP Patricio Aquino (4-3, 3.11 ERA).
The Fireflies will come home for one last homestand at Segra Park in 2023 as they face the Delmarva Shorebirds August 29-September 3. We'll host Retro Video Game Night, a Budweiser Thirsty Thursday and will wrap up the season with a Sunday Funday. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.
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FIREFLIES DROP PITCHER'S DUEL 2-1 TO MUDCATS: The Fireflies tied the game in the eighth inning thanks to a Daniel Vazquez RBI single, but Carolina immediately answered, as Columbia lost 2-1 in Zebulon at Five County Stadium Thursday night. The Fireflies tied the game in the eighth. Dionmy Salon was hit by a pitch to lead things off and then Wilmin Candelario came in as a pinch runner for Columbia. Omar Florentino slapped a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher to move Candelario to third following a wild pitch and Candelario motored around to tie the game on a Daniel Vazquez single. The lead didn't last long though. Tayden Hall knocked a one out double off Wesley Scott (L, 2-2) with one out in the bottom of the eighth and then Jace Avina plated him with a double less than an inning after entering the game as a defensive replacement. The 2-1 lead held for Yujanyer Herrera (W, 4-4) who spun four innings in relief for Yorman Galindez. In Galindez's first start in the Carolina League he worked five scoreless frames.
HOT START: Carson Roccaforte's eight-game hitting streak to start his Carolina League career ended after an 0-1 outing Friday night vs Myrtle Beach, but in the contest he drew three walks, meaning that Roccaforte has reached base safely in each of his first 13 games in full-season baseball. All-in-all, he is 13-48 with two doubles, two triples and seven RBI.
CAREER MILESTONES FOR RAYO: Last night, Oscar Rayo notched another quality start. The lefty is 21 years old and already in his third season in professional ball. Across those three seasons, the southpaw has now thrown 125 innings. In 125 frames he is 7-3 with a 2.95 ERA. He has held opponents to a respectable .241 average while keeping his walk rate low to earn an elite 1.10 WHIP. If that weren't enough, he also has 136 punchouts or 9.79 per nine innings pitched.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: Tonight, Columbia is playing their 117th game of the 131 games they have scheduled to play. The club has two road trips remaining, with three games against Carolina and six against Myrtle Beach remaining. They will also play six more games remaining at Segra Park this year. They'll play six games against the Delmarva Shorebirds from August 29-September 3 to close out their home schedule. With 15 games remaining, the Fireflies trail the Charleston RiverDogs by eight games in the South Division second-half standings.
WERNING OPPONENTS: Trevor Werner has demolished the baseball in the first three games against Carolina. Wednesday in the second, Werner hit his third homer of the series and he has gone 7-11 with three blasts and a double so far this week. It's hard to believe the hot stretch actually started well before this series began, Werner is riding an eigt-game hitting streak right now. On the run, Werner is 13-31 (.419) with three homers and 12 RBI in just eight games dating back to August 14. His streak is one games back of Jared Dickey and Omar Hernandez's nine-game hitting streaks, which are the two longest hitting streaks a Fireflies player has had this season. Hot on his heels, Daniel Vazquez is also riding a seven-game hitting streak, which is the 19-year-old's longest hitting streak of the season and his second streak of six or more games.
ONE RUN, NO FUN: Last night, the Fireflies lost 2-1 to the Carolina Mudcats, dropping a second-consecutive game by a single run. This season, Columbia is 23-19 in one-run contests this year.
Carolina League Stories from August 25, 2023
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- Bullpen Blasted Late in 12-4 Loss to Fireflies - Carolina Mudcats
- Ramirez Hits Two Homers, Pelicans Lose to Cannon Ballers 10-8 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Fireflies Rout Mudcats 12-4 Friday Night - Columbia Fireflies
- RiverDogs Record 17 Strikeouts, Earn 6-4 Victory Over Augusta - Charleston RiverDogs
- Kade Kern Records Three Hits as RiverDogs Even Series - Augusta GreenJackets
- Hillcats Fall 4-3 to Shorebirds - Lynchburg Hillcats
- 2023 CSRA Job & Career Fair Set for Tuesday, August 29th - Augusta GreenJackets
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 8.25 at Carolina - Columbia Fireflies
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