RiverDogs Emerge From Extra-Innings Affair with Eighth Straight Win

Even extra-innings couldn't cool off the red-hot Charleston RiverDogs. The squad upended the Columbia Fireflies by a 6-3 score in 10 innings on Friday night at Segra Park for their eighth straight win. Carson Williams and Ryan Spikes each launched important home runs in the contest.

The extra frame began with Daiwer Castellanos on second base. Julio Meza failed to get a sacrifice bunt down on the first two pitches of the initial at-bat, instead lining a base hit into right field to put runners on the corners. Pinch-hitter Shane Sasaki gave the RiverDogs (67-32, 21-12) the lead by hitting an RBI groundball to second and beating out a potential double play. That turned out to be significant as, with two outs, Williams crushed his 14th home run of the season to give Kamron Fields more insurance for the bottom of the inning. Fields retired all three batters in the bottom of the tenth to earn the win. He worked 2.0 scoreless, hitless innings on the night.

Columbia (17-16, 34-63) built a 2-0 lead initially off of RiverDogs starting pitcher Ben Peoples. In the second inning, Omar Hernandez extended the inning with a two-out walk and Erick Pena followed by lining a double to right field. Oneill Manzueta misplayed the rolling baseball for an error that allowed Hernandez to score the first run of the night. The lead doubled in the fourth when Darryl Collins opened the inning with a triple and immediately scored on Lorenzo Quintana's RBI single. Peoples worked 5.0 innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits. He struck out five.

For a second straight night, it appeared that one big inning might be enough for the RiverDogs to win in regulation. Spikes led off the sixth inning with his seventh home run of the season to cut the deficit in half. Five of his seven home runs have come against Columbia. Ben Kudrna, who had limited the RiverDogs to only one hit prior to the inning, responded by walking Williams and allowing a single up the middle to Willy Vasquez. Bobby Seymour moved the runners up 90 feet with a groundout and Manzueta gave the Dogs their first lead with a two-RBI single to left.

Alex Ayala Jr. tossed a scoreless sixth inning, but ran into some bad luck in the seventh. Enrique Valdez started the inning with a double and advanced to third when Hernandez bounced out to second. Pena hit a towering fly ball to shallow center field that Castellanos lost in the lights, causing it to drop in for a run-producing double that evened the score and led to extra baseball.

Each team closed the night with six hits. The RiverDogs did not have a player collect multiple knocks in the game. Columbia was led by Pena's two doubles.

Up next, is a Saturday night showdown at 6:05 p.m. between the same clubs. First to the mound for the RiverDogs will be Daiveyon Whittle (1-4, 3.78). The Fireflies will answer with RHP Ben Hernandez (1-6, 4.37).

Single-game tickets are available for all RiverDogs home games at riverdogs.com. RiverDogs season tickets, flexible ticket plans, and group tickets, including options to the Segra Club at Riley Park, are available at riverdogs.com/tickets or by contacting the RiverDogs front office at 843-577-3647 (DOGS).