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Late Rally Pushes Fireflies Past Pelicans 2-1

August 11, 2022

Columbia scored two in the top of the eighth to score their first victory of the week

Columbia scored two in the top of the eighth to score their first victory of the week

By Sam Weiderhaft

After holding a 1-0 lead to the eighth inning, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans allowed two runs to the Columbia Fireflies in the top of the eighth to fall 2-1 for the first time this week. With two wins in the first three games this week, the Pelicans' record stands at 68-37 and 21-18 in the second half. The Fireflies improved to 37-67 and 18-20 in the second half.

On a quiet night for the Birds’ bats, Ethan Hearn (1-3, 3B, RBI) brought home the only run on a triple in the bottom of the fifth. Alejandro Rivero (1-2, 3B, BB) also hit a triple in the loss. The Pelicans went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left five runners on base with five hits for the night.

Frankie Scalzo (3-4) took the loss with the two earned runs in his three innings with three hits allowed and a walk to two strikeouts. Didier Vargas logged a quality start with six shutout innings and two strikeouts with just four hits allowed and a walk.

In his first game as a Firefly, Cayden Wallace (2-4) collected two hits on singles. The lone RBI of the game went to Daniel Vazquez (1-4, RBI) on a single in the eighth inning. Columbia smashed seven hits with all of them being singles.

Thursday’s win went to Luis Barroso (4-6) with 2 2/3 shutout innings out of the bullpen and three strikeouts. Jack Aldrich earned his third save of the year by keeping the Pelicans scoreless through the final two innings with three strikeouts. Starter Ben Kudrna lasted 4 1/3 innings with one earned run off three hits and two walks while striking out three.

The game remained scoreless to the bottom of the fifth when Moises Ballesteros hit a two-out single to keep the inning alive. Hearn followed with a triple to the wall in right-center that scored Ballesteros and gave Myrtle Beach a 1-0 advantage. Rivero drew a walk to put runners on the corners. The inning ended as Parker Chavers flew out to left field for the second out. Jean Ramirez threw in to Wallace at third who put a tag on Hearn to complete the double play.

The 1-0 lead held until the top of the eighth. Scalzo walked Erick Pena and gave up a single to David Hollie before retiring the next two batters. With runners on the corners, Vazquez grounded a single off Josue Huma’s glove at short to bring in Pena and the game was tied 1-1. In the next at-bat, Gavin Cross struck out, but the pitch sailed high and over Hearn’s glove behind the plate. Hollie scored from second on the play to give the Fireflies a 2-1 lead.

Rivero led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple but was stranded there as the following three batters were retired to end the inning.

Myrtle Beach and Columbia will meet for the fourth game of the series on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.