COLUMBIA, S.C. — Michael Lombardi struck out six to regain the Single-A strikeout lead as the Fireflies fell 8-3 to the Fredericksburg Nationals Friday night at Segra Park.
Fredericksburg retook the lead in the top of the sixth inning. Rafael Ramirez Jr. hit a two out single and Dashyll Tejada took the next pitch beyond the left field fence off Jhon Reyes (BS, 5; L, 1-3) to reverse the script and give Fredericksburg a 3-2 advantage. Tejada struck again with a solo shot in the eighth inning to increase Fredericksburg’s lead to 6-2. Tejada is the second Nationals player with a two homer game this week. Hunter Hines had two homers in Tuesday’s game.
The FredNats also scored a pair of runs in the seventh. Manuel Cabrera was hit by a pitch and came around on a Gavin Fien double. Fien scored with two outs after Brandon Bossiere singled to close out the inning with a 5-2 advantage. Fredericksburg closed out their scoring in the ninth inning. Bossiere joined Tejada with his second homer of the game and Ramirez Jr. came around on a Tejada triple to push the Nationals to an 8-2 lead before the end of the frame.
The Fredericksburg Nationals used a two-out solo homer from Brandon Bossiere to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Nationals have scored first in each of the first four games of the series.
Columbia countered in the bottom of the second inning. Hyungchan Um led off the frame with a free pass before Jhosmmel Zue singled to right to place runners on first and second. Later, Um and Zue executed a double steal before catcher Nate Rombach threw the ball past third baseman Manuel Cabrera to allow Zue to score and tie the game 1-1.
Fredericksburg got a strong start from Leuris Potrorreal (W, 2-3) who allowed one earned run over five frames before transferring the ball to Levi Huesman. Huesman held Columbia to one hit over three innings and LJ Waco pitched a one-run ninth to complete the contest.
Michael Lombardi closed out the start with five innings of one-run baseball. The righty punched out six Nationals players to retake the Single-A strikeout lead. Lombardi has 92 strikeouts this season. After that, the bullpen allowed seven runs over four innings.
The Fireflies continue their series with the Fredericksburg Nationals tomorrow night at Segra Park at 6:05 pm. LHP Darwin Rodriguez (3-5, 4.43 ERA) takes the bump for Columbia and Fredericksburg counters with RHP Marlin De La Cruz (0-1, 2.30 ERA).
Tomorrow night is the Fireflies Independence Day Celebration presented by SC250. Fans can enjoy $2.50 hot dogs, $5 Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob Ultras and the team will host the city of Columbia’s official fireworks show after the game. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.