Bullpen Whiffs 11 in 5-1 Loss

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fireflies bullpen generated the swing and miss, packing 11 strikeouts in six frames, but it wasn’t enough, as Columbia fell to the Pelicans 5-1 in their home opener Tuesday night at Segra Park.

Hyungchan Um broke the scoreless tie for the Fireflies. The backstop clobbered a solo homer to right field in the second inning to get Columbia on the board.

Myrtle Beach didn’t wait long to counter. Eli Lovich singled in the third and came around on a Cole Mathis sacrifice fly to tie the game. The next inning, Darwin Rodriguez (L, 0-1) walked a pair and then hit a batter to load the bases with no one out. Ludwing Espinoza hit a sacrifice fly to push the Pelicans in front 2-1. Next, Lovich ripped another single, this time to plate Michael Carico to increase Myrtle Beach’s advantage to 3-1.

After that, the bullpen came in and brought the swing-and-miss stuff. Michael Lombardi entered the game and after inducing a pop-up, fanned the next five Pelicans batters to set Myrtle Beach down in order in his first two innings. He allowed two earned runs in his third frame, but Henson Leal came in and went on his own strikeout streak. The righty struck out the side on 10 pitches in the eighth.

Sean Gamble had another good night at the plate. The rookie was 3-5 after legging out an infield single to log the first three-hit game of his career. Each of the top five hitters in the Fireflies order had a hit, but Columbia went 0-9 with runners in scoring position in the loss.

Columbia continues their series with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Jose Gutierrez (0-0, 2.70 ERA) takes the bump for Columbia and Myrtle Beach counters with LHP Hayden Frank (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

Tomorrow night is a CVETS Dog Days of Summer. With the purchase of a lawn ticket, you can bring your dog with you to the game. Plus, fans can purchase $5 White Claws while at the game. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.