CarL Columbia Fireflies

Columbia Fireflies Roster Moves and Game Notes August 22

August 22, 2023 - Carolina League (CarL)
Columbia Fireflies News Release


The Kansas City Royals have made the following roster moves affecting the Columbia Fireflies active roster:

RHP Chase Wallace has been promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits active roster

RHP Ben Sears has been promoted to the Quad Cities River Bandits active roster

C Hayden Dunhurst has been placed on the Columbia Fireflies active roster

INF Omar Florentino has been activated and placed on the Columbia Fireflies active roster

LHP Jacob Widener has been placed on the Columbia Fireflies active roster

Dunhurst will wear jersey #32. Florentino will wear jersey #22. Widener will wear jersey #24.

The Fireflies active roster now sits at 30.

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Columbia kicks off a six-game series with the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium tonight at 7 pm. RHP Henry Williams (1-0, 0.90 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Carolina counters with RHP Alexander Vallecillo (2-3, 5.29 ERA).

The Fireflies will come home for one last homestand at Segra Park in 2023 as they face the Delmarva Shorebirds August 29-September 3. We'll host Retro Video Game Night, a Budweiser Thirsty Thursday and will wrap up the season with a Sunday Funday. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com

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FIREFLIES SLUG THEIR WAY TO 16-3 WIN: The Fireflies bats came to play, scoring a season-best 16 runs as they toppled Myrtle Beach 16-3 Sunday at Segra Park. Columbia started scoring early. Daniel Vazquez started the game with a single in his first game as a lead-off hitter this season. Next, Carson Roccaforte and Brett Squires drew walks to load the bases with only one out. Trevor Werner grounded out to third to score Vazquez and break the scoreless tie. After a Jared Dickey walk, Roger Leyton smashed a two RBI single over shortstop Cristian Hernandez's head to score Brett Squires and Jared Dickey to push Columbia's lead to 4-0. The next inning resulted in more of the same for Columbia. Vazquez hit a double and Roccaforte reached on a fielder's choice to leave runners at the corners with one out for Austin Charles, who walked to load the bases for Squires. Squires hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track to make Columbia's lead 5-0. Werner then roped a double to right to bring Roccaforte and Charles home. Finally, Dickey singled to score Roccaforte to add a second four-run inning for the Fireflies as they moved to the third with an 8-0 lead.

HOT START: Carson Roccaforte's eight-game hitting streak to start his Carolina League career ended after an 0-1 outing Friday night vs Myrtle Beach, but in the contest he drew three walks, meaning that Roccaforte has reached base safely in each of his first 11 games in full-season baseball. All-in-all, he is 13-42 with two doubls, two triples and seven RBI.

PROFESSIONAL HITTER JARED DICKEY: Fireflies outfielder Jared Dickey is on a tear. Last night, he notched another multiple-hit performance. The former Tennessee Volunteer is riding a team-best eight-game hitting streak entering today's game. Dickey is 14-30 (.467) with two doubles, a triple and eight RBI during the run. He's been even better against the Pelicans this year. In five games last week, Dickey was 10-20 (.500) with seven RBI.

CAREER MILESTONES FOR RAYO: Last night, Oscar Rayo notched another quality start. The lefty is 21 years old and already in his third season in professional ball. Across those three seasons, the southpaw has now thrown 125 innings. In 125 frames he is 7-3 with a 2.95 ERA. He has held opponents to a respectable .241 average while keeping his walk rate low to earn an elite 1.10 WHIP. If that weren't enough, he also has 136 punchouts or 9.79 per nine innings pitched.

ROUGH SAILING: The Fireflies pitching staff has had some trouble in their last 11 games, allowing 62 earned runs in their last 99 innings of work. In that time, Columbia has allowed 104 hits and walked 43 hitters or a 1.63 WHIP as a staff to pair with a 5.64 ERA. The Fireflies second-half ERA has climbed to 4.50 during the stretch, which is nearly 1.5 runs per nine innings higher than the clubs' first-half ERA.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: Tonight, Columbia is playing their 114th game of the 131 games they have scheduled to play. The club has two road trips remaining, with six games against Carolina and six against Myrtle Beach remaining. They will also play eight more games remaining at Segra Park this year. They'll play six games against the Delmarva Shorebirds from August 29-September 3 to close out their home schedule. With 18 games remaining, the Fireflies trail the Charleston RiverDogs by eight games in the South Division second-half standings.

Check out the Columbia Fireflies Statistics



Carolina League Stories from August 22, 2023


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