Columbia Fireflies Game Notes vs Fayetteville
August 15, 2021 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
The Fireflies close out their series with the Woodpeckers today at 5:05 pm at Segra Park. RHP Adrian Alcantara (4-5, 5.17 ERA) gets the ball for the home team and the visiting Woodpeckers send RHP Jayson Shroeder (2-2, 9.00 ERA) to the hill.
Today is Mason's birthday at the ballpark. To celebrate, we'll have mascots from all around visiting Mason! After the game, kids at Segra Park will have a chance to run the bases. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.
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FIREFLIES UTILIZE SIX-RUN SECOND TO BEAT WOODPECKERS: The Columbia Fireflies road the momentum of a six-run second inning to beat the Fayetteville Woodpeckers 8-5 Saturday night at Segra Park. The Fireflies (42-46) were down 4-0 to start the home half of the second inning, but the bats showed their resilience as Columbia sent 10 hitters to the dish in the inning. It started with a double from Gage Hughes. Enrique Valdez was able to piggy back off the double with a base knock to score Hughes and start the rally. With one out, Matt Schmidt kept the rally going with a double to cut Fayetteville's (38-50) lead in half. The Fireflies turned to the top of their order, Diego Hernandez roped a single to center to plate Schmidt and cut the Woodpeckers' lead to one. Herard Gonzalez drew a walk to put runners on first and second with a single out. Then Juan Carlos Negret stepped up to the plate with a pair of outs and was down to his final strike when he drove a ball to left field that scored both the runners on the base paths and push the Fireflies in front 5-4. Saul Garza made sure the inning stop there. He clocked a ball to center that resulted in a double that scored Negret all the way from first to push the Fireflies in front 6-4.
GARZA'S GANG: Since coming to Columbia, Saul Garza has been absolutely electric at the plate. Last night he went 2-4 with a double and a homer. The infielder is 6-14 with five runs and 5 RBI in the series.
MARQUEE MARQUEZ: Columbia's left-handed pitcher, Emilio Marquez, has been one of the top pitchers in the Low-A East League, and has certainly been the most consistent arm for the Fireflies in 2021. The southpaw has tallied the sixth-most strikeouts in the league (83) in only 59 innings, and has a 0.83 WHIP, which would be lowest amongst qualifying pitchers in the League. Marquez is 10 innings shy of being a qualifying pitcher for the Columbia Fireflies. If he catches up to the mark, he will also have the lowest ERA in the Low-A East League. As it stands, that honor belongs to Joey Estes who has a 2.77 ERA this season.
KILLING THEM WITH SPEED: Tyler Tolbert has been crushing the Fayetteville Woodpeckers during this series. Last night's shortstop has reached base safely 10 times in 20 plate appearances (.500) and has a double, a triple and a grand slam on his way to eight RBI in three games against the Woodpeckers. Tolbert has been on a special streak since July 30, reaching safely in 11 consecutive games. During that time, the speedster owns a .404 on-base percentage, has walked nine times and has five stolen bases. The Mississippi-native has 13 RBI and a pair of homers and triples across that 10-game stretch.
SAVING GRACE: After a tough start to the season, Zack Phillips has turned things around in his last few outings with the Fireflies. He has now only allowed one earned run in his last 13.1 innings (0.68 ERA) to drop his season ERA to 2.05. He began July giving up five runs in four innings. Phillips started the season in Quad Cities where he had a 7.2 inning scoreless streak before he was sent to Columbia.
ONE RUN, NO FUN: The Fireflies have lost four of their last seven losses by the slimmest margin possible, which brings their 2021 record to 6-17 in one-run contests. The Fireflies have particularly struggled in close games in the last month. Since the start of July, the Fireflies are 2-12 in one-run games.
Carolina League Stories from August 15, 2021
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