Chourio Quality Start, Sosa Blast Lead to 9-6 Win

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fireflies worked behind Kendry Chourio’s first career quality start and an early offensive push to beat the Delmarva Shorebirds 9-6 Saturday night at Segra Park. The win powered the Fireflies to their second-consecutive series victory and moved the team back to .500 on the season.

Ivan Sosa broke through again Saturday night. Sosa mashed a two-run homer to score Roni Cabrera in the bottom of the fourth inning. It’s the third-consecutive game that Sosa has homered in. He’s the third Fireflies player to homer in three-straight games. Brett Squires was the last to accomplish the feat May 20-23, 2023 and Jean Ramirez did so August 23-25, 2022.

After his homer, Henry Ramos singled and got to third on a walk and wild pitch to come around on a single from Sean Gamble. Later in the inning, Yandel Ricardo came around on a Andrew Herbert wild pitch that gave the Fireflies a 9-2 lead following the four-run frame.

Kendry Chourio (W, 4-0) dominated again in his start for the Fireflies. The righty earned his first-career quality start as he spun six innings. He allowed a pair of runs off four hits and struck out four Delmarva Shorebirds before getting the ball to the Fireflies bullpen.

Randy Ramnarace (S, 1) came out with a runner on first and a chance to earn his first-career save. He got Braylon Whitaker to fly out to complete the eighth inning before getting a clean ninth to work with. The righty retired all four batters that he faced to close out the game.

The Fireflies got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning. Henry Ramos singled to right on the first pitch of the game. The outfielder advanced to second on a ground out and came around to score on a Stone Russell single to break the scoreless tie.

Hyungchan Um added to the Fireflies lead to kick-off the bottom of the second frame. Columbia’s backstop clobbered his fifth homer of the season to give Columbia a 2-0 advantage. The homer also advanced Um’s RBI streak to five-consecutive games, which is the longest streak for the Fireflies since Jose Cerice drove in a run in six-consecutive games from August 20-27, 2025.

The Fireflies added another trio of runs in the third on Shorebirds starter Denton Biller (L, 1-3). Biller issued a one-out walk to Josh Hammond before Yandel Ricardo skied his fifth homer of the season to the left field corner to double Columbia’s lead to 4-0. After that, Stone Russell drew a walk and Sean Gamble doubled to set the table for Um again. The catcher hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Russell to make it 5-0 Columbia.

The Shorebirds got their first hit and runs in the top of the fourth frame. Stiven Martinez broke up the no-hit bid with a bloop single to right field. After that, Jordan Sanchez powered his third homer of the year to right field to cut Columbia’s lead to 5-2.

Delmarva got a second bout of scoring in the seventh in Columbia’s bullpen’s first inning. Jose Perez broke things open with a one-out homer off Jhon Reyes. Next, Braylon Whitaker singled and was pushed to second on a Stiven Martinez free pass. Then Sanchez muscled a single to right to score Perez to cut Columbia’s lead to 9-4.

The Shorebirds got another pair of Reyes in the eighth inning. Miguel Rodriguez hit an RBI double to score Jaiden Lo Re and then came around on a Perez base knock to cut Columbia’s lead to 9-6. Reyes left the game after 1.2 innings. The righty surrendered four runs off five hits and a pair of walkls.

Columbia closes out their series with the Delmarva Shorebirds tomorrow night at Segra Park at 5:05 pm. RHP Shane Van Dam (1-4, 4.93 ERA) takes the hill for Columbia and Delmarva counters with RHP Esteban Mejia (0-4, 8.47 ERA).

Tomorrow is the final night of Copa de la Diversion Weekend and Los Chicharrones de Columbia are going out in style! Fans can enjoy $5 empanadas, mofongo and margaritas. The team will have live music throughout the evening provided by Latin Caravan. Plus there will be a pre-game car show and during the game the team will have a pig roast. Finally, kids can run the bases after the game thanks to Bang Back Pinball Lounge and there will be a post-game full-team autograph session presented by E.F. Martin. Fans can purchase tickets at FirefliesTickets.com.