Columbia Fireflies Game Notes April 21 vs Fayetteville
April 21, 2023 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
Columbia continues their series with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers tonight at 7:05 pm at Segra Park. LHP Ryan Ramsey (0-0, 2.25 ERA) gets the nod for Columbia and Fayetteville counters with RHP Nic Swanson (1-0, 5.68 ERA).
It's 5 o'clock all night at Segra Park as the Fireflies are hosting the Fayetteville Woodpeckers for Margaritaville Night presented by AMAROK. The first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive a free Hawaiian shirt thanks to AMAROK and we'll have $5 cheese burgers in paradise and $6 margaritas at Segra Park tonight! Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.
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BULLPEN INCREDIBLE IN 4-3 WIN: The Fireflies bullpen held a 4-3 lead from David Sandlin to take a 2-1 series lead over the Fayetteville Woodpeckers at Segra Park Thursday night. The game changed when Erick Peña launched a two-run homer, plating Daniel Vazquez and tying the game 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth. After the homer, Dionmy Salon singled and came home on a balk from Alimber Santa (L, 0-1) to give the Fireflies (5-5) the lead for the first time tonight. After that, it was all about the bullpen. Marcus Olivarez stranded a pair of inherited runners in the fifth to keep the lead intact for Columbia before handing the ball to Steven Zobac (W, 1-0) Zobac punched out eight in three scoreless innings in his second appearance of the season. Zobac wrung up the first 10 hitters he faced professionally before Leosdany Molina popped out to second. Zobac has now worked five scoreless innings, striking out 14 and allowing one hit this season. In the ninth, John McMillon (S, 2) came out and set down Fayetteville (7-4) without allowing a hit to earn the save.
CLIMBING THE LEADERBOARD: The Fireflies have three pitchers on the leaderboard for most strikeouts in the Carolina League. Both Frank Mozzicato and David Sandlin are tied with Fredericksburg's Jake Bennett for the most striketous in the league with 20 punchouts in the young season. Then, despite only working five innings this season, Steven Zobac is tied with five others for ninth place with 14 strikeouts this year.
FIRST ONE FOR McMILLON: In his third season with the Columbia Fireflies, April 15, John McMillon came into game two of the doubleheader with a one run lead in the bottom of the seventh and closed out the game for his first professional save. It was the reliever's 41st appearance in professional baseball. Since earning the save, he has been able to add a win and a second save in consecutive appearances. This season he has worked four innings, striking out six hitters without ceding a run.
PUMMELING PENA: Columbia's center fielder, Erick Pena, has extra-base hits in three consecutive games after he hit his second round tripper of the season to tie the game 3-3 in the fourth inning of Thursday's contest vs Fayetteville. After starting the season 1-20, the lefty is 3-11 with 10 total bases. In the three-game stretch, Pena is slashing .273/.273/.909. He now leads the Fireflies with seven RBI in his first nine games of the season. Coincidentally, last year, Pena also earned his seventh RBI in his ninth game of the year and had a three-game RBI streak in his seventh-through-ninth games.
FRANKIE CURVEBALL: Kansas City's 2021 first-round pick has started a pair of scoreless outings for the Fireflies in 2023, fanning 20 hitters in 11 innings while holding opponents to a .111 average. Mozzicato set a franchise record with 13 strikeouts in a single game Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 11 held by Tony Dibrell since April 26, 2018.
STERLING STARTERS: Through the first ten games, Columbia's starting pitchers have been outstanding, allowing only 13 earned runs in 46.1 innings of work (2.52 ERA). The run includes 12.1 consecutive scoreless innings from Frank Mozzicato, Shane Panzini and David Sandlin from Tuesday-Thursday. Mozzicato earned Columbia's first quality start of the season Tuesday, April 18 against Fayetteville. They've also punched out a combined 63 opposing hitters. The bullpen's journey has been a bit more rocky, allowing 21 earned runs in their first 38.2 innings (4.89 ERA).
Carolina League Stories from April 21, 2023
- Pelicans Strand 17, Lose 4-3 to GreenJackets - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Bats Go off in Second Shutout of Season - Columbia Fireflies
- Shorebirds Down FredNats 16-4 - Fredericksburg Nationals
- RiverDogs Commit Costly Errors, Drop Third Game in Four Days to Kannapolis - Charleston RiverDogs
- Wood Ducks Walk-Off Mudcats 4-3 - Carolina Mudcats
- GreenJackets Show Clutch Gene, Win Friday Night - Augusta GreenJackets
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes April 21 vs Fayetteville - Columbia Fireflies
- Red Sox Defensive Errors Lead to Lynchburg Win - Salem Red Sox
- Long Ball Not Enough for Woodies - Down East Wood Ducks
- Another Big Night from Elko Spoiled by Ballers' 8-5 Loss to RiverDogs Thursday - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
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