Crawdads Drop Decision on Saturday Night

Hickory, NC- The Columbia Fireflies scored single runs in five consecutive frames to claim a 5-3 win against the Hickory Crawdads at LP Frans Stadium on Saturday evening.

Brennon McNair broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with his fifth home run of the season, giving the Fireflies a 1-0 advantage. That home run began a stretch of five consecutive innings that saw the Columbia lead balloon to 4-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

In the seventh, Hector Osorio got the Crawdads on the board with a two-run double to right, cutting the lead to 4-2. Beycker Barroso hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Osorio and cut the lead to a single run.

In the eighth, the Fireflies would get an insurance run as Josi Novas scored on a groundout from Stone Russell.

With the Fireflies leading 5-3 in the late innings, Nick Conte and Dennis Colleran pitched a pair of scoreless frames to secure a second straight win for Columbia (29-27).

Henson Leal earned the win for the Fireflies, tossing 2.1 innings in relief of starter David Shields. The right-hander surrendered one hit while striking out two Hickory hitters.

For the ‘Dads (28-27), Antonis Macias and Osorio earned multi-hit games, with Osorio's two RBI pacing the Crawdads offense.

Mason Molina suffered the loss for Hickory, allowing just one run in four innings, striking out seven in his outing. The loss drops his record to 1-3 on the year.

The Crawdads will wrap up their series tomorrow seeking a split with the Fireflies. First pitch time is set for 2pm at LP Frans Stadium.