COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fireflies bullpen gave up five runs in the final two innings after Darwin Rodriguez worked six frames as Columbia fell 9-5 to the Hickory Crawdads Wednesday afternoon at L.P. Frans Stadium.
The Crawdads took their lead in the bottom of the seventh. Jhon Reyes (L, 1-2) allowed five of the six batters he faced to reach and surrendered four runs while recording one out in the frame. Paulino Santana dealt the fatal blow. The centerfielder clobbered his seventh homer of the season to give Hickory an 8-4 lead. Hickory scored their final run in the bottom of the eighth. Marcos Torres knocked a lead-off double to right and scored on a sacrifice fly from Jhocsuanth Vargas.
The Fireflies got one back in the top of the eighth inning. Sean Gamble pulled a one-out double to right field and came around on an Ivan Sosa single to left to cut Hickory’s lead to 8-5.
Josi Novas jump-started the Fireflies bats in the top of the third inning. He smacked his first homer of the season to left field to tie the game 2-2 to kick-off the frame. After that, Yandel Ricardo reached on a dropped third strike. All-in-all, four straight Fireflies reached without the ball leaving the infield before JC Vanek grounded into a double play to score Ricardo to give Columbia a 3-2 advantage. After that, Sean Gamble singled to score Ramirez to give the Fireflies a 4-2 lead.
The Crawdads tied things up in the bottom of the fifth. Marcos Torres and Curley Martha started the frame with back-to-back doubles to cut Columbia’s lead to 4-3. Later in the frame, Angel Arredondo got a base knock to score Martha to tie the game 4-4.
The Fireflies broke through in the top of the first inning. Angel Ramirez drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a fielding error from left fielder Marcos Torres that allowed JC Vanek to reach first. After that, Vanek got caught in a run down as he tried to steal second. On the play, Ramirez scored before Vanek was tagged out to end the inning, which gave Columbia a 1-0 lead.
Hickory landed a counter strike in the home half. Paulino Santana was hit by a pitch with one out and then Marco Argudin singled to set the table for Braylin Morel. Morel pulled a double down the third base line to tie the game 1-1. With Argudin at third, Luis Marquez hit a sacrifice fly to right to give the Crawdads a 2-1 advantage.
Darwin Rodriguez worked six innings in the no-decision for the Fireflies. He punched out seven Crawdads and allowed four earned runs before passing the ball to the bullpen.
The Crawdads used five pitchers in their bullpen day. Owen Proksch struck out six of the seven batters he faced over two scoreless innings and Wily Villar (W, 3-2) worked a scoreless seventh to earn the victory.
Columbia closes out their first half vs the Hickory Crawdads tomorrow night at L.P. Frans Stadium at 7 pm. RHP Ryan McDonagh makes his Fireflies debut and Hickory counters with RHP Jesus Lafalaise (1-5, 5.68 ERA).
The Fireflies return home for 12 games in 13 days from June 30-July 12. The team will celebrate America’s 250th birthday with the biggest fireworks show of the year, Saturday, July 4 and will continue with fireworks and a patriotic theme all weekend thanks to SC 250. The next weekend, the club is throwing it back to the 90s for the return of the Capital City Bombers thanks to Cassell Brothers Home Services. Join the team for a bobble plane giveaway Friday, July 10 and a drone show Saturday, July 11. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.