COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Columbia Fireflies rallied behind a pair of early homers in game two to split a doubleheader with the Charleston RiverDogs Thursday night at Segra Park. The Fireflies were shut out 3-0 in game one, but rallied to win game two 9-6.
Game One
The Fireflies were shutout 3-0 in game one of their doubleheader vs the Charleston RiverDogs.
Shane Van Dam started the doubleheader with four scoreless innings for Columbia. The righty struck out five RiverDogs batters around three hits and a pair of walks before the bullpen came in.
Charleston scored three in the top of the sixth off righty Henson Leal (L, 2-4). Taitn Gray knocked a single to start the frame before Brendan Summerhill broke the scoreless tie with a triple to the right-center gap. Brailer Guerrero clobbered the next ball for his fifth homer of the season to make it 3-0 for Charleston prior to the end of the frame.
Aidan Hough (W, 4-3) was the star of the show for the RiverDogs. The righty worked a complete game shutout. He worked around four hits over seven innings and recorded four strikeouts to keep the Fireflies at bay.
Dash Albus closed out the game with 1.1 scoreless innings in relief for Columbia.
Game Two
An early eight-run outburst propeled the Fireflies to a 9-6 victory over the Charleston RiverDogs in game two of Thursdays doubleheader.
Columbia jumped out to a quick start in game two. Sean Gamble drew a walk and Stone Russell sliced a two out single to center to set the table for Jhosmmel Zue. Columbia’s catcher clobbered his first homer of the season over the home run porch in left to give Columbia a 3-0 lead.
Yandel Ricardo started the scoring for Columbia in the second inning. The second baseman pulled his fourth homer of the season to right field to score Connor Rasmussen and lift Columbia ahead by a handful. The inning wasn’t over there though. Sean Gamble walked and advanced to second on a balk before Josh Hammond drove him home with an RBI single. Zue came up again with two runners on and two outs in the frame. He dribbled an infield single to third, then Nicandro Aybar threw the ball wide of first, which allowed Hammond and Russell to score to make it 8-0 in favor of the Fireflies.
Hammond scored the team’s final run in the fourth inning. After a one-out double, he came around on a pop-out from Zue.
Jose Gutierrez worked four innings in the start and allowed three to score before he gave the ball to the bullpen. Brandon Herbold (W, 2-2) walked the bases loaded but then retired Charleston in order to keep a clean inning alive. After that, Yeri Perez (S, 2) recorded the final four outs for Columbia and stranded the bases loaded for Luis Valdez in his debut.
The Fireflies continue their series with the Charleston RiverDogs tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Denis Samudio (0-1, 6.75 ERA) takes the ball for Columbia and Charleston counters with RHP Jacob Kuhn (0-0, 1.96 ERA).
Tomorrow night is Margaritaville Night presented by the South Carolina Education Lottery at Segra Park! Find your cheeseburger at your ballpark paradise and jam out to live island music from the band Phantasia. Fans also want to get to the ballpark early because the first 1,000 in attendance will receive a free Fireflies themed Hawaiian t-shirt. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.