Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Charleston 7.17
Published on July 17, 2026 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies take on the Charleston RiverDogs tonight at The Joe in their first game after the All-Star Break at 7:05 pm. RHP Jose Gutierrez (6-3, 3.38 ERA) takes the slab for Columbia while Charleston counters with LHP Blake Morgan (3-0, 2.40 ERA).
Columbia returns home July 21-26 to play the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers at Segra Park. The club will host their first-ever True Crime Mystery Night Thursday, July 23, giveaway an ugly Christmas Sweater Jersey to the first 1,000 in attendance July 24 and host Dino Night presented by SC Department of Environmental Services July 25. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
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FIREFLIES SURRENDER FIVE IN 10TH TO FALL 8-4: The Fireflies surrendered seven unanswered after the seventh inning and fell 8-4 to the Salem RidgeYaks in 10 innings Sunday afternoon at Segra Park. The big blow came in the 10th. Luis Valdez (L, 0-1) allowed a lead-off two-run blast to Starlyn Nunez to score placed runner Givian Sirvania to push the RidgeYaks to a 5-3 advantage. After a pair of two-out singles, Ilan Fernandez clobbered his second round-tripper of the game to make it 8-3 RidgeYaks. Jhosmmel Zue dribbled a one-out single through the right side of the infield to score Hyungchan Um to cut Salem's lead to 8-4, but Columbia's rally stopped there. Salem tied the game in the top of the ninth inning. Brandon Herbold (BS, 1) hit Avinson Pinto with a pitch to start the inning, then Andruw Musett doubled to score him to cut Columbia's lead to 3-2. Later, Ilan Fernandez hit a one out single to score Musett to tie the game and force extras.
STERLING STARTERS: The Fireflies starting rotation has the top ERA in Minor League Baseball this season. The group has recorded a 18-19 record combined with a 3.42 ERA over 383.2 innings through the first 87 games of the season. Fireflies starters have 386 strikeouts and have held opponents to a .237 AVG on the season. The Frederick Keys have the second-best mark in MiLB with a 3.63 through 360 innings pitched this season.
LUMINOUS LOMBARDI: Michael Lombardi has been a master of the strikeout this season. Friday, he etched four strikeouts across 4.1 innings of work. Lombardi has the fifth-most strikeouts (96) in Single-A over 64.2 innings of work. Rancho Cucamonga's Dylan Jordan and Fresno's Brady Parker lead the way with 100 strikeouts this season. Lombardi is on the doorstep of becoming the seventh Fireflies pitcher to strikeout 100 batters in a season. Tony Dibrell owns the Fireflies single-season strikeout record at 147. Lombardi is one strikeout away from matching Logan Martin (2024), Luinder Avila (2022) and Simeon Woods Richardson (2019) for the 10th-most strikeouts in a season in club history.
RISPY BUSINESS: The Fireflies enter today's in fourth place in the Carolina League with a .252 batting average with runners in scoring position. The Charleston RiverDogs lead the way with a .275 average. Over the course of the last two weeks, Columbia's bats have slowed down though. The team is hitting just .206 (28-136) with runners in scoring position over their last 13 games.
THE GAMBLER: Sean Gamble struggled out of the gates at the plate this season. The first rounder hit just .118 across 21 games in April, but near the end of May, the centerfielder turned the page. Since May 21, Gamble is hitting .264 across 42 games. He is second on the team in OBP (.402) and OPS (.805) and leads the club in runs scored (33) and stolen bases (18) during the stretch.
RAVING ABOUT RAMOS: Saturday, Henry Ramos hit an inside the park homer for the Fireflies. It was the third consecutive game that he has scored a run for Columbia. Last week, Ramos finished 10-20 (.500) with three doubles, a homer, five walks and five runs scored in the first five games of the series. The outfielder has a .600 OBP and a 1.400 OPS.
MOVING ON UP: This week, 2025 Fireflies pitcher David Shields was added to the MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospects list. He joins Kendry Chourio ('25-'26) and Josh Hammond (current) as top prospects on that list.
Carolina League Stories from July 17, 2026
- FredNats and Howlers Postponed Friday - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Charleston 7.17 - Columbia Fireflies
- The Bumpy Road Back: Nick McLain's Journey of Injury and Perseverance - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Columbia Fireflies Homestand Preview: July 21-26 - Columbia Fireflies
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