Columbia dropped four of six to the Fredericksburg Nationals this past weekend, giving up first place in the Carolina League South. Columbia is 63-54 overall, 28-24 in the second half, and three games back from the leading Charleston River Dogs. In the week ahead they will head down to Augusta to take on the GreenJackets
The Fireflies would struggle to produce runs in the series. Tuesday night the team would only manage to produce four runs on five hits, however, the single RBI credited for the home team went to Blake Mitchell on the sixth inning ‘Blake Bomb’. Jonatan Bernal (1-4)struggled in his outing, going five innings, surrendering eight hits, six runs, five earned. Three of those came on an Elijah Green home run in the top of the fifth and that would be enough for the 6-4 win for the visiting FredNats. Hitting struggles continued into Wednesday night as Columbia would only manage four runs on six hits. Three of those runs were earned to hold on for the 4-1 win behind five innings of work from Mauricio Veliz. Zachary Cawyer (2-0) was credited with the win in two innings of relief before handing the ball over to Elvis Novas for the save, his sixth.
Columbia would trail early on Thursday night after the Nationals plated three in the second, two in the third, and another in the fifth for a 6-0 lead. Columbia’s lone run came in the sixth on a Carter Fredrick fielder’s choice. The Fireflies would use five pitchers on the night, with only one going over 1.1 innings of work. Austin Charles would set the tone for Saturday’s victory with a 3-run HR in the bottom of the first. Derlin Figueroa tripled in Daniel Vazquez in the third to cap the game’s scoring. Hiro Wyatt would earn win number two on the year after a five-inning, two-hit outing with seven strikeouts. Novas would earn save seven of the year. Sunday’s contest would see more offense for both teams. Trailing 3-1 in the sixth Columbia plated four to take a 5-3 lead. Frederiksberg added one in the seventh and another in the ninth to send it to extras after a blown save from each team. Frederiksberg scored two more runs on a pair of singles in the top of the 10th. Columbia went on to manage just one more run on a Daniel Vazquez single and would end up falling 7-6.
Up next Columbia travels to Augusta to take on the GreenJackets. Before the six-game series kicks off, the two will pick up play in the top of the fourth inning with Augusta leading 6-0 from a suspended game on July 6th. Following the visit to Augusta, Columbia will finish off the season hosting the Charleston Riverdogs, which will also resume a weather-delayed game from July 14th.
