COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fireflies were shutout 6-0 by the Hickory Crawdads Saturday night at L.P. Frans Stadium. The loss was Columbia’s second-consecutive shutout. It is the first time the Fireflies have been shutout in back-to-back games since July 13-17, 2025 when Charleston blanked Columbia 3-0 before the All-Star Break and Kannapolis beat Columbia 1-0 in the first game following the break.
The Crawdads broke through in the bottom of the third inning. Daniel Flames laced a double down the left field line to start the inning and came around on a Curley Martha single to give Hickory a 1-0 lead.
The big inning for Hickory’s bats came in the sixth. All nine came to the plate for the Crawdads, who notched five runs on six hits to take a 6-0 lead heading into the final third of the game. The big hits in the inning belonged to Flames, who smacked another double down the third base line to score Angel Arredondo and Luis Marquez and Sebastion Baquera who singled to right to bring home Flames and Martha.
Shane Van Dam (L, 1-5) allowed just one run through his first five innings, but couldn’t get the final out of the sixth as he was on the hook for all six runs in the longest start of his career (5.2 innings pitched). After that, Henson Leal provided 1.1 scoreless innings before Yeri Perez escaped a bases-loaded jam to put up a goose egg in the bottom of the eighth inning.
AJ Russell matched his career-best with 3.2 innings of scoreless work in the start for the Crawdads. Columbia notched three hits against the former Tennessee Volunteer, but couldn’t get a run across, thanks in part to five punchouts from the righty.
After that, Louis Marinaro (W, 3-2) worked 2.1 innings before passing the ball to Jormy Nivar (S, 3) for the rare three-inning save in the win. Hickory has outscored Columbia 16-0 in the second half so far.
Columbia closes out their series with the Hickory Crawdads tomorrow night at 2 pm at L.P. Frans Stadium. RHP Jose Gutierrez (4-2, 3.86 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and Hickory counters with RHP Evan Siary (2-2, 3.76 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.