Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Kannapolis 6.25
Published on June 25, 2026 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continue their series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tonight at Atrium Health Ballpark at 7:05 pm. RHP Shane Van Dam (1-5, 5.44 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Truman Pauley (1-6, 6.29 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.
----------
NOWORYTA GETS 100TH WIN BEHIND STRONG START: The Fireflies bats worked behind a strong start from Ryan McDonagh to claim their second-straight win over Kannapolis, this time 4-1 Wednesday afternoon at Atrium Health Ballpark. The win was Manager David Noworyta's 100th regular season victory as the Fireflies skipper. In the eighth frame, Columbia got some insurance. JC Vanek and Yandel Ricardo got back-to-back singles before Hyungchan Um was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no one out. Angel Ramirez lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Vanek to get a run back for Columbia and increase their lead to 3-1. Next, Jhosmmel Zue cued a single through the right side of the infield to bring Ricardo around to make it a 4-1 ball game. Ryan McDonagh (W, 1-0) dominated in his second start in the Carolina League. The righty worked around two hits two spin five scoreless innings. He struck out three before getting the ball to Jhon Reyes for a scoreless sixth inning. Columbia starters are 2-0 with 12 scoreless innings across the first two games of the series so far.
STERLING STARTERS: The Fireflies starting rotation has the second-best ERA in Minor League Baseball this season. The group has recorded a 13-14 record combined with a 3.41 ERA over 306 innings through the first 71 games of the season. Fireflies starters have 310 strikeouts and have held opponents to a .237 AVG on the season. The Fredericksburg Nationals lead the way with a 3.34 ERA through their first 71 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.
SEAN IS SHOWING 'EM: Yesterday, Sean Gamble went 1-4 with a walk vs the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. On the run, which began June 10 vs Delmarva, Gamble is batting .351 with eight steals. He has scored five runs and has driven in six RBI during the streak. It is tied for the Fireflies second-longest hitting 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.
SECOND INNING FUN: The Fireflies have won the first pair of games against the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers thanks to a pair of offensive bursts in the second inning. Columbia has outscored Kannapolis 6-0 in the second inning and the series tally currently sits in Columbia's favor 8-4.
Carolina League Stories from June 25, 2026
- Hernandez's Ninth Inning RBI Double Propels Birds Past RidgeYaks 5-4 - Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- Howlers Continue Roadtrip Blues with Loss to Hickory - Hill City Howlers
- Morgan Delivers Quality Start, RiverDogs Fall in Extras 4-3 - Charleston RiverDogs
- Flores' Tenth Home Run Leads Charge in Third Straight Win - Fayetteville Woodpeckers
- Ballers Bats Fall Cold in Third Loss of Series to Columbia Thursday - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Lodise Leads Jackets to Extra-Inning Win - Augusta GreenJackets
- Crawdads Top Wild Howlers 13-1 - Hickory Crawdads
- RidgeYaks Drop Heartbreaker to Myrtle Beach, 5-4 - Salem RidgeYaks
- Hammond Gets Second Four-Hit Game in 7-3 Win - Columbia Fireflies
- Fredericksburg Charges Past Wilson - Wilson Warbirds
- Early Offense, Incredible Start From Fischer, Leads FrednNats to Blowout Win Over Warbirds - Fredericksburg Nationals
- Shorebirds Drop Third Straight to Woodpeckers - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Columbia Fireflies Game Notes at Kannapolis 6.25 - Columbia Fireflies
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
