Top Storylines
- Hammond rattles off his third four-hit performance of the season, scored go-ahead run in the eighth inning. The infielder now has 115 hits, which is the second-most in a single-season in Fireflies history.
- Yeri Perez slams the door shut with three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to earn his first win of the 2026 season.
- The Fireflies score the final five runs of the game to upend the Pelicans 10-8 after surrendering six runs in the fifth frame.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fireflies used a four-hit game from Josh Hammond and scored the final five runs in a 10-8 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans Saturday night at Segra Park. With the win, the Fireflies have taken four of the first five games of the week.
This was Hammond’s third four-hit game of the season, which gave him 115 hits on the season. The hits are the second-most in a single-season in Fireflies history. He trails only Ronnie Mauricio, who had 126 hits in the 2019 season for Columbia.
Yeri Perez (W, 1-0) closed down the game for the Fireflies. He set aside the first six batters he faced and spun three scoreless innings while allowing a single hit. Perez wrung up four opponents to close out the night and earn his first victory of the season.
Play-by-Play
The Fireflies scored the final five runs in the game to upend Myrtle Beach and win 10-8. The rally started in the bottom of the sixth frame. Daniel Lopez drew a walk, stole second and came around on Josh Hammond’s third hit of the game to cut the Pelicans’ lead to 8-6.
Then in the seventh, Julio Valdez issued back-to-back walks with one out. Following a pitching change, Daniel Lopez legged out an infield single where second baseman Fernando Cruz threw the ball wide of first to score JC Vanek from second. After Jan Luis Reyes recovered, the errantly threw the ball home, which allowed for Connor Rasmussen to score on the play to tied the game 8-8.
In the eighth, Josh Hammond singled to start the frame and moved to second on a wild pitch. After two great defensive plays in the top half of the inning, Camden Johnson singled to score Hammond from second to give Columbia the 9-8 advantage. After that, Johnson stole second and third to put himself in a position to score on Geovanny Vasquez’s (L, 0-1) second wild pitch of the frame.
The Pelicans pushed ahead with a six-run top of the fifth inning. Caden Sorrell started the inning with a triple and then Alexis Hernandez and Ethan Conrad drew walks. A wild pitch scored Sorrell and then Jhoander Irogoyen doubled to bring around Hernandez and Conrad to make it a one-run contest.
After Columbia went to the bullpen, Corey Nunez lined a double to score Irogoyen to tie the game 5-5. Later, Josh Hammond committed a throwing error in an attempt to turn a double play that score Nunez to give the Pelicans their first lead of the game. Next, Jan Luis Reyes singled to bring Fernando Cruz around to close out the inning and make it 7-5 in favor of Myrtle Beach, who entered the inning trailing 5-1.
Jose Gutierrez was tagged with four runs over his 4.1 innings. The righty struck out five Pelicans and only allowed one run across his first four innings before the Pelicans six-run fifth frame.
In the sixth, Ethan Conrad smacked a homer to left to give the Pelicans an extra run of insurance and an 8-5 lead. It was Conrad’s third round-tripper of the season.
Columbia cracked the score column first Saturday night. After Josh Hammond set the table with a single, Sean Gamble smoked a triple into the right field corner to plate Hammond and break the scoreless tie.
After that, Columbia added an additional four runs in the second inning. Ricson Gonzalez started the frey with a double and moved to third on a Daniel Lopez infield single. After that, Henry Ramos and Josh Hammond hit back-to-back RBI singles to give Columbia a 3-0 advantage. A wild pitch scored Ramos from third and Camden Johnson drove a sacrifice fly deep to left to plate Hammond to push Columbia’s lead to 5-0 in the second.
Myrtle Beach got on the board in the top of the third frame. Ethan Conrad laced a two-out double down the left field line and then came around on an Eli Lovich single to cut Columbia’s lead to 5-1.
On-Deck
Columbia closes out their series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans tomorrow night at Segra Park at 5:05 pm. LHP Darwin Rodriguez (5-5, 3.60 ERA) gets the nod for Columbia and Myrtle Beach counters with RHP Anhuar Garcia (1-0, 3.38 ERA).
Tomorrow is Kids Club Takeover day presented by Bang Back Pinball Lounge. Members of the Kids Club will be playing the games on field and running the show, but after the game, all kids get to run the bases and there will be a full-team autograph session presented by E.F. Martin.