Late Rally Falls Short in Fayetteville
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies added two in the eighth, but couldn’t bring the tying run home as they fell 4-3 to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers at Segra Stadium Thursday night. With Myrtle Beach’s win over Fredericksburg, the Fireflies are now three games behind the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with six games
COLUMBIA, SC – The Fireflies added two in the eighth, but couldn’t bring the tying run home as they fell 4-3 to the Fayetteville Woodpeckers at Segra Stadium Thursday night. With Myrtle Beach’s win over Fredericksburg, the Fireflies are now three games behind the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with six games left to play.
Omar Hernandez kicked off the rally in the eighth, smashing his second homer of the season beyond the left field fence to make the score 4-2. Next, the Fireflies loaded the bases before Lizandro Rodriguez grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Daniel Vazquez to make it a one-run game. After that, Kasey Ford (S, 3) was able to set aside the Fireflies and earn his third save for Fayetteville this season.
The Fireflies had trouble with starter Trey Dombroski, who spun a quality start, allowing just a single run in six innings while fanning nine Fireflies in his second win of the year.
Frank Mozzicato (L, 1-4) returned to the mound tonight. He spun 3.1 innings, punched out three, allowing four his and walking four in his return. The Fireflies pen stranded four inherited runners, two for Chazz Martinez and two for Marcus Olivarez before Oscar Rayo worked a scoreless eighth to keep it a one-run game for Columbia.
Zach Cole created another good situation for Fayetteville in the bottom of the first. The outfielder drew a lead-off walk, then stole his 16th and 17th bases of the season to move to third with no outs. He scored off the bat of Narbe Cruz to break the scoreless tie before the end of the first.
The Woodpeckers were able to grab some insurance their next time through the order in the bottom of the third. After Cole hit a single, Luis Encarnacion mashed a homer beyond the left field fence to increase Fayetteville’s lead to 3-0.
The Fireflies bats were able to add a run in the sixth. Omar Hernandez started off the frame with a lead-off single. He stole second for his team-leading 19th swiped bag of the season and then came around on a two-out Austin Charles slap to short that was mishandled by Narbe Cruz to get Columbia on the board.
An answer wasn’t far behind for Fayetteville though. Yamal Encarnacion led the frame off with an infield single, then Sandro Gaston had a bloop base knock to right to set the table. Zach Cole reached on a bases loaded fielder’s choice that allowed Encarnacion to come around and put the Woodpeckers in front by three again.
Columbia closes out the work week with a 7:05 pm tilt with the Fayetteville Woodpeckers at Segra Stadium tomorrow night. RHP Shane Panzini (1-4, 3.10 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia while Fayetteville responds with LHP Luis Angel Rodriguez (0-0, 4.50 ERA).
The Fireflies will return home to Segra Park June 20 and they’ll stay home through July 3 as the Fireflies battle the Fredericksburg Nationals and the Augusta GreenJackets. The homestand will house our Negro League Celebration Weekend where we’ll have a special appearance from Larry Doby Jr. amongst others and will conclude with our Independence Day Celebration with a massive fireworks show. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.