Fireflies Finish Home Schedule with Win

COLUMBIA, SC - The Fireflies finished their home slate in style on Thursday night with a 7-3 victory over the RiverDogs in front of an energetic crowd of 5,041 at Spirit Communications Park. Starter Marcel Renteria guided Columbia to the win. The righty turned in a career-high eight innings, struck out six and didn't walk a single batter. Renteria picked up his fifth win of the season.
The offense backed up Renteria (W, 5-3) from the get-go. For a second straight night, Hansel Moreno blasted a first-inning, lead-off homer, this time against right-hander Alex Vizcaino (L, 0-1).
Columbia (62-67) fell behind 3-1 in the second frame but struck back two innings later. The Fireflies scored five times in an inning that was capped off by Matt Winaker's two-run homer. It was Winaker's 13^th of the year, tying him for the single-season franchise record with Dash Winningham (2017) and Brandon Brosher (2017).
The Fireflies' third homer of the night was slashed off of Zach Rheams's bat an inning later. Rheams now has seven in 41 games this season.
Both Moreno and Dionis Paulino finished with multi-hit games on Thursday.
Columbia's season finishes up in North Augusta, South Carolina, over the Labor Day weekend. The Fireflies and Augusta GreenJackets resume a suspended game from July 29 at 6:05 ET on Friday (Columbia leads 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning of that game). Once that game is completed, the teams will play the originally scheduled Friday game which will last just seven innings.
You can listen to the action on FOX Sports Radio 1400 AM, ColumbiaFireflies.com and the iHeartRadio app starting at 5:45 p.m.