Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Charleston 7.19
Published on July 19, 2026 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies close out their series with the Charleston RiverDogs tonight at The Joe at 5:05 pm. RHP Michael Lombardi (2-3, 2.78 ERA) takes the bump for Columbia and Charleston counters with RHP Aidan Haugh (8-4, 5.11 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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HAMMOND BECOMES FOURTH FIREFLY TO NOTCH 5-HIT GAME: Josh Hammond continues to stun in his first professional season. The infielder became the fourth Fireflies player to notch five hits in a single game in a 9-2 win over the Charleston RiverDogs Saturday night at The Joe. He was the first Fireflies player to have a five-hit game since David Miranda accomplished the feat August 17, 2018 at Delmarva. Hammond doubled in the first and seventh innings and singled in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings to accomplish the feat. He is 8-9 across the first two games of the series. Dan Rizzie accomplished the feat July 19, 2017 at Lexington and Enmanuel Zabala was the first Fireflies player to have five hits in a game when he did so August 22, 2016 vs Augusta. Columbia pushed ahead with a fourth inning homer for the second-consecutive night. Tonight, it was Yandel Ricardo who mashed his sixth homer of the season to right field to score Josh Hammond to grant Columbia a 2-1 lead.
STERLING STARTERS: The Fireflies starting rotation has the top ERA in Minor League Baseball this season. The group has recorded a 20-19 record combined with a 3.40 ERA over 394.2 innings through the first 89 games of the season. Fireflies starters have 394 strikeouts and have held opponents to a .236 AVG on the season. The Frederick Keys have the second-best mark in MiLB with a 3.67 through 365.2 innings pitched this season. Overall, the Fireflies hold the fourth-best team ERA in Minor League Baseball at 4.12. The Kannapolis Cannon Ballers lead the way with a 3.77 mark.
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 sixth-most strikeouts (96) in Single-A over 64.2 innings of work. Fresno's Brady Parker leads the way with 107 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.
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 .270 across 44 games. He is second on the team in OBP (.404), fourth in OPS (.805) and leads the club in runs scored (34) and stolen bases (18) during the stretch.
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.
THE GREAT HOMERUN RACE: Friday night, Hyungchan Um smashed his eighth homer of the season to left field. He now matches JC Vanek and Ivan Sosa for the most homers on the Fireflies this season. Last year, only Ramon Ramirez cracked double-digit homers for Columbia (11). 2018 and 2024 are the only two seasons in franchise history where more than two players have mashed 10 homers for the Fireflies. This year, Sosa, Um, Vanek and Roni Cabrera, who has seven round-trippers are all on pace to do it.
Carolina League Stories from July 19, 2026
- Howlers Sweep Three-Game Set with FredNats - Hill City Howlers
- Holton Spins Gem as GreenJackets Avoid Sweep with Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- RiverDogs Erase Seven-Run Deficit in Thrilling 8-7 Win over Fireflies - Charleston RiverDogs
- Salazar Homers, O'Donnell Earns First Save as RidgeYaks Win Series over Shorebirds - Salem RidgeYaks
- Seven-Run First Squandered in 8-7 Loss at Charleston - Columbia Fireflies
- Birds Drop Series Finale to Cannon Ballers 10-2 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Delmarva Falls to Salem in the Series Finale - Delmarva Shorebirds
- FredNats Swept for the First Time in 15 Months, Fall 10-7 to Hill City in Series Finale - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Warbirds and Crawdads Suspended on Sunday - Wilson Warbirds
- Sunday's Game Suspended Due to Weather - Hickory Crawdads
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Charleston 7.19 - Columbia Fireflies
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