Ninth Inning Rally Falls Short in 4-1 Loss

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — The Fireflies bats rallied late, but came up short after leaving the bases loaded in the ninth. Columbia fell 4-1 to the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Saturday night at Atrium Health Ballpark.

Hyungchan Um started the ninth with a walk and then Yandel Ricardo and Angel Ramirez hit singles to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate with one out. After that, Marco Barrios (S, 5) struck out Jhosmmel Zue and Ivan Sosa to close out the game.

The Cannon Ballers took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jaden Fauske started the rally with a one out single off Dash Albus (L, 2-2) before Matthew Boughton pulled his fourth homer of the season to left field to give Kannapolis a 3-1 advantage. Kannapolis tacked a run on in the eighth against Jhon Reyes to give them the insurance they needed to close out the game.

Columbia got on the board first with a big blast for the second-consecutive night. Tonight, Hyungchan Um pulled a solo shot over the left field wall in the second to get the scoring started. It was Um’s seventh homer of the season, which is tied with JC Vanek and Ivan Sosa for the most on the Fireflies roster this year.

Kannapolis tied the game in the bottom of the third inning. Michael Lombardi issued back-to-back one out walks and then Hyungchan Um committed a throwing error on a pick-off to second that allowed Efran Teran to come around and score.

Michael Lombardi punched out five over 4.1 innings Saturday. The righty allowed one, unearned run, but left the game in the fifth with the bases loaded. Then Henson Leal came in and forced a pop up and a groundout to strand the bases loaded and keep the score tied 1-1.

On the other side, Caedmon Parker was electric for Kannapolis. The righty spun five innings and gave up just one earned run on 49 pitches before the Cannon Ballers went to the bullpen.

Columbia wraps up their series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers tomorrow afternoon at Atrium Health Ballpark at 1:30. LHP Darwin Rodriguez (3-4, 4.35 ERA) takes the hill for Columbia and Kannapolis counters with RHP Gabe Tanner (0-1, 4.00 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.