COLUMBIA, SC - Jacob Zanon was a headache for the Charleston RiverDogs in the series finale on Wednesday night. The outfielder posted his fifth three-hit game of the season and stole two bases. The Fireflies blanked the RiverDogs 3-0 at Spirit Communications Park. It's the club's 15th shut-out victory in
COLUMBIA, SC - Jacob Zanon was a headache for the Charleston RiverDogs in the series finale on Wednesday night. The outfielder posted his fifth three-hit game of the season and stole two bases. The Fireflies blanked the RiverDogs 3-0 at Spirit Communications Park. It's the club's 15th shut-out victory in 2017.
Harol Gonzalez (W, 9-8) continued to display consistency for Columbia (19-26, 59-54) in his 20th start of the year. The 22-year-old lasted six innings and gave up only two hits. Gonzalez has thrown at least six frames in each of his previous 13 starts.
Zanon's impressive night began in the second inning. With one out, the Oregon native reached on an infield single. Zanon proceeded to steal second base while the next batter, Luis Carpio , was up at the dish. Carpio walked and that placed runners and first and second. Jay Jabs dumped a single into shallow left field and scored Zanon. The Fireflies grabbed an early 1-0 advantage over Charleston (28-17, 62-53).
Columbia kept its foot on the gas in the third stanza. Ian Strom doubled with one out and extended his on-base streak to 11 games. Zanon plated Stom with a base hit. The Fireflies increased their lead to 2-0. That's all the home team tallied at the time, but Zanon did pick up his second stolen base of the contest later in the inning. He leads the squad with 24 steals this season.
The speedster tied a bow around his splendid evening in the sixth. The 22-year-old doubled down the right-field line and later scored on a wild pitch. The Fireflies led the RiverDogs 3-0 at this point and did not look back.
Matt Blackham tossed a scoreless ninth inning and registered his third save of the season. The righty had two strikeouts and now leads all Columbia relievers with 71 strikeouts this year.
The Fireflies open up a four-game series with the Hickory Crawdads (Texas Rangers) on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Spirit Communications Park. This will be the first time these two teams meet up since late April.
You can listen to the action on ESPN Columbia 94.9 FM and 1230 AM, ColumbiaFireflies.com and the TuneIn Radio app starting at 6:45 p.m. You can also watch the game live on MiLB.tv.
