Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Kannapolis 6.24
Published on June 24, 2026 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continue their series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers at Atrium Health Ballpark this afternoon at 12:05 pm. RHP Ryan McDonagh (0-0, 3.60 ERA) takes the hill for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Alexander Martinez (1-4, 7.15 ERA).
The Fireflies return home for 12 games in 13 days from June 30-July 12. The team will celebrate America's 250th birthday with the biggest fireworks show of the year, Saturday, July 4 and will continue with fireworks and a patriotic theme all weekend thanks to SC 250. The next weekend, the club is throwing it back to the 90s for the return of the Capital City Bombers thanks to Cassell Brothers Home Services. Join the team for a bobble plane giveaway Friday, July 10 and a drone show Saturday, July 11. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
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RODRIGUEZ HOT START, ZUE SLAM LEAD COLA TO 4-3 WIN: Darwin Rodriguez spun seven scoreless innings behind a Jhosmmel Zue grand slam as the Fireflies held on late to beat the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 4-3 Tuesday night at Atrium Health Ballpark. Darwin Rodriguez (W, 3-4) blazed past the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Tuesday night. The southpaw worked seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts before he passed the ball to Henson Leal. Rodriguez walked one and allowed five hits in his first-career quality start. Leal worked a scoreless eighth inning around a single, but ran into some trouble in the ninth. He allowed the first four Cannon Ballers to reach against him before handing the ball to Dash Albus (S, 1) with the bases loaded and nobody out and a 4-1 lead. Albus started hot, forcing Adrian Gil to ground into a 5-4-3 double play, which also scored Derek Cerde to cut Columbia's lead to 4-2. Next, Nathan Archer tripled to score Stiven Flores and put the tying run 90 feet away for Judrick Profar. Profar grounded out to short to close out the win for Columbia.
STERLING STARTERS: The Fireflies starting rotation has the third-best ERA in Minor League Baseball this season. The group has recorded a 12-14 record combined with a 3.47 ERA over 301 innings through the first 70 games of the season. Fireflies starters have 307 strikeouts and have held opponents to a .239 AVG on the season. The Fredericksburg Nationals lead the way with a 3.40 ERA through their first 70 games.
LUMINOUS LOMBARDI: Michael Lombardi has been a master of the strikeout this season. Sunday, he etched seven strikeouts across 4.2 innings of work. Lombardi has the second-most strikeouts (81) in Single-A over 51.0 innings of work. Palm Beach's Cade Crossland leads the way with 86. Lombardi has the second-best K/9 rate in Minor League Baseball among pitchers with at least 50 innings this season (14.29). Seth Hernandez leads the way at 14.60. Lombardi also has the third-best strikeout percentage in Minor League Baseball among players with at least 50 innings pitched this season. Hernandez also leads that group. has struck out 41.9% of batters faced this season.
THAT A WAY, ZUE: Last night, catcher Jhosmmel Zue accounted for all of Columbia's offense. The backstop mashed his second homer of the season and the team's fourth grand slam in a 4-3 win over Kannapolis. Zue now leads active Fireflies with a .286 batting average this season.
SEAN IS SHOWING 'EM: Yesterday, Sean Gamble went 1-4 in the opener with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. In the run, which began June 10 vs Delmarva, Gamble is batting .364 with eight steals. He has scored five runs and has driven in six RBI during the streak. It is the Fireflies third-longest hititng streak of the season. Stone Russell has the longest hitting streak in 2026. He hit safely in 13-consecutive games from May 24-June 10, the day Gamble's hitting streak began.
HIP HIP, JOSE: Sunday, Jose Gutierrez worked a pair of innings and faced the minimum while striking out three Hickory Crawdads. It snapped the righty's three-game quality start streak. In the month of June, Gutierrez is 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA. He has 20 strikeouts and only one walk across 21 innings to combine with a 0.76 WHIP. With the run, Gutierrez now holds the sixth-best ERA (3.56) amongst qualifying pitchers in the Carolina League this season. Kannapolis' Max Banks leads the pack with a 1.84 ERA. He last pitched for the Cannon Ballers June 6.
Carolina League Stories from June 24, 2026
- RiverDogs Fall 19-2 to Augusta - Charleston RiverDogs
- Four-Run Eighth Inning Lands Woodpeckers Second Win over Shorebirds - Fayetteville Woodpeckers
- RidgeYaks Hold off Pelicans 5-4, Behind Finley's 10 Strikeouts - Salem RidgeYaks
- Sixth in Seventh Lifts Fredericksburg over Wilson - Wilson Warbirds
- Morales Dominant as Crawdads Top Howlers - Hickory Crawdads
- 7th Inning Rally Propels FredNats to 9-3 Win Over Warbirds - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Pelicans Can't Mount Late-Inning Rally, Fall to RidgeYaks 5-4 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Woodpeckers Score Four Runs in the Eighth to Sink Delmarva - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Noworyta Gets 100th Win Behind Strong Start - Columbia Fireflies
- Charleston RiverDogs, Boeing to Induct Rear Admiral George E. Bresnihan and Revolutionary War Hero Francis Marion into Hall of Honor on June 24 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Kannapolis 6.24 - Columbia Fireflies
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