Fireflies Offense Stymied in 6-3 Loss to RiverDogs

COLUMBIA, SC – The Columbia Fireflies scored a run in the ninth, but were unable to muster a rally against the RiverDogs pitching staff as they fell 6-3 in the series finale Sunday at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.

The Fireflies bullpen, which had been stellar for the first five games of the series vs the RiverDogs, had some trouble in the series finale Sunday. Luis Barroso gave up a pair of insurance runs in the home half of the fifth before being lifted after recording only a pair of outs. The two runs gave Charleston a 5-2 lead, which they held onto for the remainder of the game.

Southpaw Rylan Kaufman closed out the game with 3.1 innings without allowing an earned run. He fanned a handful of hitters to keep the Fireflies within striking distance.

After Charleston opened up the scoring in the home half of the first inning, the Fireflies roared right back with a solo homer from Erick Peña in the top of the second. Peña’s second homer of the season was enough to tie the game 1-1.

The RiverDogs were able to add one more in the second when Willy Vasquez scampered home on a wild pitch from Fireflies starter Wander Arias (L, 0-1). The next inning, Mason Auer hit a sacrifice fly to plate Shane Sasaki and increase the RiverDogs lead to 3-1.

In the fifth, Wilmin Candelario was able to draw the Fireflies one run closer, singling to score Omar Hernandez and cut the RiverDogs lead to just one.

Carter Jensen hit his third homer of the series in the top of the ninth to give Columbia its final run, but it wasn’t enough to stimulate a rally.

Columbia returns home Tuesday to face the Down East Wood Ducks for the first time in franchise history. RHP Ben Hernandez (0-0, 0.00 ERA) gets the ball to start the series, while Down East has yet to name their starter.

The Fireflies will return home April 19 where they’ll play the Down East Wood Ducks for the first time. Down East will be in the Soda City for six games, including a t-shirt giveaway on Friday and a post-game fireworks show Saturday. For more information, visit ColumbiaFireflies.com.