Top Storylines
- Moises Amezquita rebounds, tossed three innings of one-hit baseball without allowing a run in game two.
- Shane Van Dam works 4.1 innings and gets five strikeouts to earn his 75th punchout of the season
- The bullpen strands their first four inherited runners in game one of the doubleheader before the team fell in extras.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Moises Amezquita tossed three one-hit innings in game two of Columbia’s doubleheader, but the Fireflies were swept by the Augusta GreenJackets Tuesday night at Segra Park. The Fireflies lost game one 5-3 in eight innings before losing the second game 3-0 to the GreenJackets.
Columbia led 3-1 early in game one, but the Fireflies were unable to hold on as the GreenJackets added one in the third and tied the game in the sixth inning. The bullpen stranded four inherited runners in the first six innings, but gave up the tying run with less than five outs remaining in the contest.
In game two, Amezquita didn’t allow a run in the back-half, but the bats could never charge a rally as the Fireflies fell.
Play-by-Play
Game One
The GreenJackets were able to score a pair off Jhon Reyes (L, 2-5) in the top of the eighth inning. Reyes walked the bases loaded to start the inning. After that, Junior Tilien grounded into a double play to score the placed runner from second to take a 4-3 lead. After that, Matt Scannell came around on a Reyes wild pitch to push the GreenJackets lead to 5-3.
The Augusta GreenJackets tied the game in the top of the sixth. Matt Scannell singled to start the frame and moved to second on a throwing error on a pick-off from Andy Basora. After that, Scannell stole third and scored on a strikeout wild pitch to match Columbia’s score 3-3.
The Fireflies got on the board in the bottom of the second frame. Sean Gamble pulled a lead-off single to right-center. After a Connor Rasmussen walk and a Tyson Moran bloop single, the Fireflies had the bases loaded with only one out. After that, Jhonayker Ugarte reached on a fielding error from Yamvier Carrero to plate Gamble and tie the game 1-1. Later in the inning, Ricson Gonzalez singled to left to bring around Rasmussen and Moran to give the Fireflies a 3-1 lead.
The GreenJackets hopped in the score column first. Cooper McMurray set the table with a two-out single before Tanner Smith pulled a double down the left field line to plate McMurray and take a 1-0 lead before the end of the frame.
Augusta added on in the top of the third inning. Manuel Campos pulled a homer over the right field wall to start the frame and cut Columbia’s advantage to 3-2.
Shane Van Dam kept the Fireflies in front in his start. The righty allowed two runs over 4.1 innings. He struck out five to earn his 75th strikeout on the season before passing the ball to Andy Basora and the Fireflies bullpen in the fifth inning with one out. Basora struck out back-to-back batters to leave a pair of inherited runners stranded to keep the Fireflies in front 3-2.
Game Two
The GreenJackets were able to hop on the board first again in game two. Juan Mateo doubled and stole third to set the table for Cooper McMurray who lifted a sacrifice fly to center to give the GreenJackets a 1-0 lead.
In the third, Parker Brosius tripled to score Joe Olsavsky to double the GreenJackets lead before McMurray got a second sacrifice to plate Brosius and make it a 3-0 lead. All three of the runs came off Michael Braswell (L, 1-1) in his first pro start. The righty worked three frames before handing the ball to Moises Amezquita, who closed out the game for Columbia. Amezquita closed out the night with three innings of one-hit baseball.
Daniel Brooks (W, 2-0) had a career outing against the Fireflies. The College of Charleston product struck out a career-best 10 batters over five scoreless innings around three hits and no walks.
On-Deck
Columbia continues their series with the Augusta GreenJackets tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Michael Lombardi (2-3, 3.25 ERA) takes the slab for the Fireflies and Augusta counters with RHP Yander Pinero (0-0, 7.71 ERA).
Tomorrow night is Prisma Health Night on a CVETS Dog Days of Summer. The Fireflies are celebrating all the heroes of healthcare from Prisma Health and fans can bring their pups to the game with them. All dogs get in free with the purchase of a lawn ticket for their human companion. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.