Columbia Fireflies Game Notes July 23 vs Augusta
July 23, 2022 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies continue their series vs the Augusta GreenJackets at Segra Park tonight at 6:05 pm. LHP Frank Mozzicato (0-4, 5.29 ERA) takes the slab for Columbia and Augusta counters with RHP James Acuna (2-2, 2.88 ERA).
Tonight's game is guaranteed to end with a BANG! at Segra Park! It's a night at the Big Top, where we're celebrating the circus! We'll have stilt-walkers, balloon animal artists and face painters, and you'll want to stick around afterwards as we'll shoot a human cannonball across the field and end the evening with a fantastic fireworks display! Tickets start at just $5 and are available at FirefliesTickets.com.
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FIREFLIES OUTSLUGGED 6-3 AT SEGRA PARK FRIDAY: The Fireflies allowed a trio of runs in the fourth and sixth innings as they fell 6-3 to Augusta Friday night at Segra Park. Augusta (8-13) jumped out in front with a three-run fourth inning. After Francisco Floyd started the inning with a lead-off double, Brandon Parker and Adam Zebrowski set the table with a pair of one out walks. Then Luinder Avila (L, 5-7) tossed a wild pitch that allowed Floyd to score and moved up Parker and Zebrowski for Braulio Vasquez, who singled to score the pair and push the GreenJackets in front 3-0. The GreenJackets would add another trio in the sixth inning off reliever Jonatan Bernal. A Connor Blair sacrifice fly to left started the scoring and then Eliezel Stevens closed out the inning with a two-run single to put Augusta up 6-1.
MAKING MY WAY DOWN TOWN: Fireflies outfielder River Town is on a roll. When he doubled in the fourth inning of Friday's game, Town reached base safely in his 32nd-consecutive game, which is the longest active streak in Class-A baseball. He owns the third-longest active streak in Minor League Baseball. Vaughn Grissom has reached safely in 44 games dating back to May 27 and owns the longest streak. The longest on-base streak in A-ball this season belonged to Denzel Clarke of the Stockton Ports. The outfielder reached safely in 37 games from April 14-June 11. Town now owns the Fireflies franchise record on-base streak. He passed Jeremy Vasquez who had a 28-game mark in 2018. During Town's 32-game stretch, he is slashing .275/.453/.520. He has tallied seven homers and 23 RBI on the streak.
EVERYONE WANTS TO BE APART OF A TURN-AROUND: RHP Ben Hernandez's splits say it all this year. After starting the season 0-1 with a 6.28 ERA in four starts in April, Columbia's starter has been rolling down hill, cruising to where he is, playing the best baseball of his professional career. In May, his ERA was 4.26 across a trio of games that included a stint on the injured list. Then he came back for a handful of starts in June where he rocked a 3.45 ERA with 17 punchouts in 15.1 innings. As July comes to a close, the Royals' 13th-best prospect according to MLB.com has a 1.72 ERA in three starts, including his longest start of the season, a 5.2 inning masterpiece in Down East right before the All-Star Break.
JENSEN'S JULY: Columbia's backstop Carter Jensen is catching on in the month of July. For the month, the Missouri native is slashing .367/.485/.592 in 16 games. He has smacked two homers and driven in 13 while scoring 14 runs in July. His pace has been particularly torrid in his last 11 contests where the 19-year-old is hitting .382 with nine walks to help guide him to a 1.107 OPS.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC: The Columbia Fireflies are tied for first place in the South Division second-half standings with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers after 21 games in the second-half. At the moment, Kannapolis owns the tie-breaker (overall record), so Columbia's magic number to clinch the playoffs stands at 45.
SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE: After going 4-11 in their first 15 games against the Augusta GreenJackets, the Columbia Fireflies were able to win seven-consecutive to bring the series close to even with three games remaining versus their divisional foe in 2022. Despite losing last night, Columbia still has a chance to tie the season series if they win both Saturday and Sunday's games at Segra Park.
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