Gamble’s Homer Charges Fireflies to Victory

Top Storylines

• The Fireflies bats got five-consecutive two out hits in the first inning to break the scoreless tie and take a 3-0 lead over Charleston.

• Ryan McDonagh closes out a four inning start by retiring the final 10 batters he faced before getting the ball to the bullpen. Jesus Oliveira retired the first four batters he saw to cut down 14-consecutive RiverDogs as a team.

• The bullpen continued their hot stretch. Over the last two nights, Fireflies relievers have allowed just one run over 12.1 innings (0.73 ERA).

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sean Gamble led the attack for the Fireflies offense, with a first inning two-run homer that set the tone as Columbia cruised to an 8-1 win over the Charleston RiverDogs Thursday night at Segra Park.

Columbia scored three in the first as the bats tallied five-straight two out hits and then added four more runs in the sixth inning as nine batters came to the plate and Columbia drew three walks and a hit-by-pitch along with a triple and a single.

The pitching looked strong again Thursday. Ryan McDonagh allowed a pair of runners in the first inning and then set aside the final 10 batters he faced before handing the ball to the Fireflies bullpen. Jesus Oliveira took care of the first four batters he faced as he twirled three one-hit innings and then Yeri Perez closed the game with a pair of scoreless frames. The Fireflies bullpen has now tallied 12.1 one-run innings in the last two nights.

Play-by-Play

The Fireflies rallied with two outs in the bottom of the first to break the scoreless tie. Columbia got five-straight two out hits to score the first three runs of the game. After Josh Hammond started the run, Sean Gamble pulled his seventh homer of the season to right field to push Columbia to a 2-0 advantage. Then Connor Rasmussen and Ricson Gonzalez hit back-to-back singles to set the table for Ricson Gonzalez who knocked a single up the middle to score Rasmussen to increase Columbia’s lead to 3-0.

Ryan McDonagh was excellent in his final home start of the season. The righty worked four scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. More impressive than that, McDonagh retired the final 10 batters he faced before handing the ball to the bullpen. After that Jesus Oliveira (W, 2-0) spun three innings of one-run baseball. Oliveira allowed one hit and one walk and struck out two RiverDogs in the outing. Yeri Perez got the ball next.

Columbia added four additional runs in the sixth inning. Tyson Moran ripped a lead-off triple before Efrailin Ramos walked back-to-back batters. Jhonayker Ugarte got the Fireflies on the board with an RBI single to drive the lead to 4-0. After that, a bases loaded walk and hit by pitch, pushed the Fireflies advantage to 6-0. Josh Hammond closed out the frame with a sacrifice fly deep to left field to plate Ugarte to close out the scoring in the frame with Columbia’s advantage standing at 7-0.

The RiverDogs scored their run in the seventh. Andres Torres walked to lead-off the frame and was pushed to second on a hit-by-pitch. Later, Angel Mateo doubled down the right field line to plate Torres and cut Columbia’s advantage to 7-1.

Columbia tallied their final run in the eighth. Connor Rasmussen was hit by a pitch, then Daniel Lopez singled him home to push Columbia to an 8-1 lead.

Jacob Kuhn (L, 1-2) got the nod for Charleston. He battled through 4.2 innings and allowed three runs off six hits and a pair of walks. Efrailyn Ramos ran into trouble. He only lasted two outs while allowing four runs before Bryce Shaffer mopped things up for Charleston to finish the game.

On-Deck

Columbia continues their series with the Charleston RiverDogs tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Coleman Picard (1-2, 3.52 ERA) gets the ball for Columbia and Charleston counters with RHP Ethan Storm (4-5, 6.25 ERA).

Tomorrow is Floss Like a Boss Night at Segra Park. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a Mason toothbrush holder giveaway as the Fireflies show families how cool it is to have good dental hygeine. Tickets are available at FirefliesTickets.com.