Columbia Rallies Late to Defeat Crawdads 7-3

Hickory, NC- The Columbia Fireflies plated four runs in their final two at-bats to take down the Hickory Crawdads 7-3 on Tuesday night at LP Frans Stadium.

The Crawdads, winners of two straight in Charleston, were looking to stay alive in the race for the Carolina League's South Division first-half crown.

Columbia scored early as Josh Hammond came in on a sacrifice fly from Yandel Ricardo to give the Fireflies a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

In the third, the 'Dads got on the board on the strength of a solo homer from Marcos Torres to even the score at 1-1. The home run for Torres was his eighth of the year.

In the fourth, Paulino Santana hit his sixth long ball of the season, an opposite field shot to right that put the Crawdads ahead 3-1.

Columbia, however, answered immediately as Roni Cabrera launched a deep drive to left, knotting the contest at 3-3 halfway through the fifth inning.

From there, Jose Gutierrez and Henson Leal kept the 'Dads off the board to secure the win for Columbia (33-31).

Columbia reclaimed the lead in the eighth as Sean Gamble stroked a two-run double over the first base bag, plating Hammond and Ricardo to move their lead to 5-3.

JC Vanek's RBI single in the eighth and Hammond's sacrifice fly in the ninth closed out the scoring for the Fireflies.

Gutierrez (4-2) claimed his fourth win of the campaign, while Leal earned his fourth save for Columbia.

Louis Marinaro (2-2) was tagged with the loss in relief for Hickory (33-29).

Tomorrow, the two teams return to the Frans for a 12:05pm matinee before resuming the series Thursday night at 7pm.