Columbia Fireflies Game Notes June 18 vs Carolina
Published on June 18, 2022 under Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
It's a beautiful day for baseball in the Midlands and the Fireflies are playing a pair of seven-inning games vs the Carolina Mudcats beginning at 4:30 pm this afternoon. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-4, 5.11 ERA) takes the slab for Columbia in game one vs Carolina's RHP Fernando Olguin (1-1, 6.10 ERA). Game two will have Fireflies righty Shane Panzini (0-1, 2.92 ERA) slated vs RHP Miguel Segura (1-1, 4.71 ERA) for the Mudcats.
Negro League Weekend continues tonight at Segra Park today! We're honoring the history of those who played in the Negro Leagues and tonight will host special guest, Sean Gibson. Gibson is the great-grandson of Josh Gibson, the legendary Negro League slugger. He'll speak to fans about some of Josh's triumphs and hardships while playing in the circuit. The Josh Gibson Museum is also traveling to Segra Park tonight. If that weren't enough to excite you, we'll wrap up the game with a stunning fireworks show! Tickets are still available at FirefliesTickets.com.
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LATE RUNS MARK DIFFERENCE IN LATE GAME AT SEGRA PARK: The Fireflies got going after a one hour and 59-minute delay at Segra Park Friday night, then late offense marked the difference in a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Mudcats. The first four Mudcats (31-29) hitters who came to the plate in the seventh were able to reach, punctuated by a two-run homer off the bat of Eduardo Garcia. The shortstops' sixth long ball of the season put Carolina up 3-1. The final run of the game scored as Jeferson Quero lined a single to left to plate Jackson Chourio, which put Columbia (18-42) in a 4-1 hole. Columbia (18-42) scored their lone run in the sixth off former Gamecock Brannon Jordan (W, 3-1). After Joshua Rivera worked a single to left to lead off the inning, Jean Ramirez bunted him into scoring position for Daniel Vazquez who smacked a base knock to center to tie the game.
THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING: Fireflies outfielder River Town has been wearing out his cleats walking to first base. The Louisiana native has walked five times in 11 plate appearances this series vs Carolina, bringing his season total to 24 walks in 48 games. The stretch has landed him with a six-game on-base streak.
DOONEY BUOYS FIREFLIES: The Royals' 2021 6th round pick, Dayton Dooney, has been on a tear against the Carolina Mudcats. The infielder launched a two-run triple in the eighth inning of Tuesday's game to give the Fireflies some much-needed insurance before scoring Columbia's last run of the 7-3 win on a wild pitch. Then, less than 24 hours later, in the first inning Wednesday, Columbia's clean-up hitter lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score the first run of the game. He didn't stop there either. Dooney smashed a homer to the right field berm to score Columbia's second and final run of Wednesday's game too. In other words, Dooney has played a role in scoring each of the Fireflies last five runs. He continued the hot stretch with a single Friday. He brings a four-game hitting streak into today's doubleheader.
WILY WILLIS: In his 37th appearance in the neon and navy, Marlin Willis earned his first win. He is now 1-2 in his career with the Fireflies across 60.2 innings of work. In his second season in the Soda City, the southpaw has a 4.07 ERA in 14 appearances, fanning 33 in 24.1 innings and holding opponents to a .189 average. Columbia's reliever has been on a tear since the end of April though. After recording an 8.53 ERA in the first month of the season, Willis continues to perform better as time passes. He went 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA in six games spanning 12.1 innings in May and is 1-0 in his first four games of June with a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 innings.
K IS FOR KUDRNA: Yesterday's starting pitcher hasn't been phased by the jump to full-season bsaeball early on. After allowing a single run in his debut across 3.2 innings, the Kansas native has tallied four more starts. He spun a four inning scoreless outing at Lynchburg and a three inning scoreless outing at Salem before returning home to Columbia. In his most pair of starts, Kudrna allowed a pair of unearned runs in three innings before being lifted and he worked a career-high 4.1 innings without allowing a run. That means that Kudrna has not allowed an earned run in his last 14.1 innings of work. In that time, the righty has struck out 19 opposing hitters while allowing just 10 hits.
A HANDFUL OF DUBS: Tuesday night, Heribert Garcia spun five innings in relief of Shane Panzini, earning his team-best fifth win of the season. Columbia's reliever has three wins in his last five relief appearances and has overtaken tonight's starter, Luinder Avila, fort the most wins on the roster this season.
Carolina League Stories from June 18, 2022
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