Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 9.7 at Myrtle Beach
September 7, 2023 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continues their series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans tonight at 7:05 pm at Pelicans Ballpark. RHP Ben Hernandez (1-3, 5.27 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Myrtle Beach counters with LHP Drew Gray (0-3, 4.38 ERA).
For more information about the Fireflies and other events at Segra Park, including our Chris Jansen concert in October and Fireflies Holiday Lights in November and December, visit ColumbiaFireflies.com.
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NOVAS EXCELLENT IN 5-2 LOSS FOR COLUMBIA: Elvis Novas stranded three inherited runners and spun 2.1 scoreless, but it wasn't enough to revive the offense as Columbia fell 5-2 Wednesday evening to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans at Pelicans Ballpark. Brian Kalmer dealt the big blow for a second-consecutive night. In the fifth inning with two outs, he hit his second three-run blast of the series to push Myrtle Beach's lead to 4-0, scoring Jefferson Rojas and Ismael Mena. Both hitters reached off the free pass. Myrtle Beach broke the scoreless tie in the second. Pedro Ramirez drew a walk and later was able to come around on a Malcom Quintero single to right field to make it 1-0. The Fireflies got all their runs Wednesday off one swing of the bat. Trevor Werner put the charge into Columbia's offense. After Daniel Vazquez's second single of the day, Werner laced a triple to right center and on the throw into third shortstop Jefferson Rojas mishandled the ball, allowing Werner to score to cut the Pelicans lead to 4-2.
WERNER LOCKS DOWN SECOND-CONSECUTIVE WEEKLY HONOR: The Columbia Fireflies, in conjunction with the Carolina League and Major League Baseball, have announced that Trevor Werner has been named the Carolina League Player of the Week for the week of August 28-September 3. Werner is the first Fireflies player to win the award in back-to-back weeks and continues to attack Carolina League pitching better than just about any hitter in the league. This week, the Texas A&M product hit .429 (9-21) with three doubles, two homers and six RBI. His biggest homer came to tie game two of Columbia's doubleheader Saturday, which led to a walk-off winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning. In 25 games this season in Columbia, Werner is slashing .341/.450/.692 and has an impeccable 1.142 OPS. The Royals' seventh round pick has seven homers and 27 RBI in his stint in the Carolina League.
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 131 frames he is 7-3 with a 3.02 ERA. He has held opponents to a respectable .241 average while keeping his walk rate low to earn an elite 1.11 WHIP. If that weren't enough, he also has 138 punchouts or 9.48 per nine innings pitched.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: The Fireflies are playing their final series of the year with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. With four games remaining, the club has a 64-62 record, and is two wins away from clinching their first .500 record in franchise history. Prior to this season, the team's best record was in 2017, when they finished 68-70.
MASHING SQUIRES: Friday, Brett Squires capped off a fantastic month of August. The lefty leads the team in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.266), home runs (14), RBI (67) and on-base percentage (.384). While he's had a top-10 on-base percentage all season, his August certainly helped his stock. In 25 games, the lefty mashed seven homers and drove in 23 RBI while slashing .337/.396/,630.
NIFTY NOVAS: Fireflies reliever Elvis Novas has saved his best stuff for last. The righty stranded three inherited runners in 2.1 scoreless innings against the Pelicans last night to lower his ERA to 2.89 with the Fireflies. His lowest season ERA was 3.91 in the DSL in 2021, but he's playing his best baseball in the Carolina League.
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