Fireflies Clobber Power for Third Straight Night
Published on June 11, 2016 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Columbia Fireflies News Release
COLUMBIA, SC - The recent offensive surge carried into Saturday evening at Spirit Communications Park and Columbia thumped West Virginia, 8-2. The Fireflies have won the first three games of the series and have outscored the Power, 23-6. All nine hitters in the Columbia (32-30) lineup reached base safely.
The home team has also won all three games against the Power wire-to-wire. The Fireflies scored in the first inning in all three as well. On Saturday, Vinny Siena led off with a triple and Kevin Kaczmarski promptly plated his teammate with a sacrifice fly. Siena is now hitting an absurd .449 (22-49) in first innings this season.
Columbia added two more in the second. With two outs, Joe Tuschak laced one of his two hits on the night into the left-center field gap and wound up with a double off of Power starter Dario Agrazal (L, 3-5). Then Jeff Diehl stepped to the plate and slammed an opposite-field home run to give the home team a 3-0 lead. It was Diehl's fifth long ball of the season.
That was plenty of run support for Gaby Almonte (W, 1-0). After being added to the roster on Thursday, the right-hander tossed six innings and surrendered one unearned run two days later. The 23-year-old issued no walks.
The Fireflies stamped three more on the scoreboard in the fourth. Milton Ramos, Tyler Moore and Diehl all drove in runs. Columbia lost the shutout in the top of the fifth after Mitchell Tolman knocked in Logan Ratledge.
The sixth inning turned into a nightmare rather quickly for West Virginia (30-31) reliever Billy Roth. The Fireflies drew four straight walks off of the righty - at one point the hitters saw 15 straight pitches out of the strike zone. Diehl scored the first run of the frame and later, Luis Ortega's sacrifice fly brought in Moore. Columbia extended its lead to 8-1.
The Power added another run in the eighth, but Tyler Bashlor pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the game.
Columbia goes for the franchise's first four-game sweep on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. Fireflies lefty Kevin Canelon (4-3, 2.83) opposes Power righty Bret Helton (2-5, 3.93) in the series finale.
South Atlantic League Stories from June 11, 2016
- 'Dads Win Wacky Game in Kannapolis 7-5 - Hickory Crawdads
- Intimidators Lose Lead Late to Crawdads - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
- Fireflies Clobber Power for Third Straight Night - Columbia Fireflies
- Legends Snap Streak with 8-5 Win over Hagerstown - Lexington Legends
- Lexington Gets First Win of Series against Hagerstown - Hagerstown Suns
- Loss Pushes Power under .500 - Charleston Dirty Birds
- Long Ball Lifts Delmarva in Crucial Victory - Delmarva Shorebirds
- Cedeno Stellar as RiverDogs Shutout Asheville, 3-0 - Charleston RiverDogs
- BlueClaws Fall 5-4 Saturday Night at Delmarva - Jersey Shore BlueClaws
- Tinoco Strong in Return But Offense Remains Handcuffed - Asheville Tourists
- Sunday's 'Bark in the Park' Postponed Until July 5 - Columbia Fireflies
- Fireflies Game Notes: June 11 vs. West Virginia (Game 62) - Columbia Fireflies
- Delmarva Shorebirds Game Notes for Saturday, June 11 - Delmarva Shorebirds
- WV Power Game Notes - Charleston Dirty Birds
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.
