'Birds Win It Wire-to-Wire in Columbia

COLUMBIA, SC - The Delmarva Shorebirds kept their foot on the gas at the plate, taking a wire-to-wire 7-1 win over the Columbia Fireflies on Saturday night at Spirit Communications Park.
Cameron Bishop (9-5) earned his first win in over a month for the Shorebirds (24-23, 59-55), allowing one run on four hits over five innings while walking one and striking out two. Luc Rennie (2-2) took the loss for the Fireflies (18-29, 52-62), surrendering three runs on seven hits over six innings against his former club.
One night after belting a first-inning home run, Zach Jarrett opened up hot again, banging a two-out triple off the wall in the right field corner. Jarrett later sprinted home on a wild pitch to open the scoring, giving the Shorebirds a 1-0 lead that they would build on from there.
In the fifth it was Jarrett again, following three batters behind a Kirvin Moesquit leadoff double with an RBI single to the right side. Columbia answered in the home half of the fifth as Carloz Sanchez doubled and David Miranda singled him home, making it 2-1.
Jean Carlos Encarnacion led off the sixth inning with a towering opposite-field home run, his first as a Shorebird and 11th on the season. Encarnacion had stayed alive narrowly on the last two pitches, fouling one off the end of the bat and taking a narrowly inside breaking ball. The solo smash put Delmarva up 3-1.
The Shorebirds blew it open in the top of the eighth. Ryan Ripken cranked a one-out double off the left field wall, and Cadyn Grenier followed with a walk. After a strikeout, Kirvin Moesquit worked a full-count free pass, and Mason McCoy cleared the bases with a three-run double to left. Trevor Craport followed with a scorching liner over the head of a flat-footed Dionis Paulino, making it a four-run inning and a 7-1 Shorebird lead.
Max Knutson earned a hold with a pair of scoreless innings after Bishop, and Tim Naughton brought it home by putting up zeroes in the eighth and ninth.
McCoy finished 2-for-5 with a double, run, and three RBIs for the Shorebirds, while Jarrett continued his hot series by going 2-for-4 with a triple, run, and RBI. Craport added two hits, including the RBI triple, and showed off his skills in left field, throwing out a runner at the plate in the first inning and making a diving catch on a line drive to the corner in the seventh.
Miranda reached all four times he came to the plate for the Fireflies, going 2-for-2 with a pair of walks, RBI, and stolen base. The rest of the Columbia lineup managed just two more hits on the night.
With 16 runs in the first two games of the series, Delmarva has now scored 27 runs through the first five games of its seven-game road trip that included back-to-back shutout losses on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Shorebirds go for an early series win against the Fireflies on Sunday afternoon. Jhon Peluffo (4-6, 5.87) takes his turn for Delmarva against Columbia's Nicholas Debora (3-3, 3.26). First pitch is set for 2:05 p.m., and pregame coverage on Fox Sports 960 AM and the MiLB First Pitch App begins at 1:50 with Will DeBoer on the call.