Timely hitting was key for the Fireflies on Tuesday at State Mutual Stadium in Rome, Georgia — Columbia swept both games of the doubleheader, winning 3-1 in game one and 3-2 in the nightcap. The second game featured a seventh inning comeback.
Starter Tyler Badamo (W, 1-0) tossed a gem in the first game, going six strong innings and allowing just one run. The Fireflies bothered his counterpart, Touki Toussiant (L, 0-1), rather quickly, tagging the Rome (2-4) righty for three runs in the first three innings. Tyler Moore singled in the second frame, followed by a Milton Ramos walk. The pair were knocked in when Ivan Wilson bombed a double to the centerfield wall.David Thompson mimicked Wilson’s efforts in the following inning to extend Columbia’s (3-3) lead to 3-1.
Badamo and Johnny Magliozzi (S, 1) then took care of the rest. The Milton, Massachusetts, native pitched a perfect seventh frame to pick up his first save of the season.
In game two, the Braves scored first. Oddly enough, it was the first time in six games the Fireflies did not jump on the board before their opponent. Austin Riley homered in the first inning, but afterword, Columbia starter Joe Shaw settled down (W, 1-0) in his first start of the year. The Texan ended up striking out a career-high eight before surrendering one more run in the bottom of the sixth.
That set the table for the comeback. After six shutout innings of work, Braves starter Mike Soroka was removed from the game for Matt Custred. The reliever tossed nine pitches — walking Kevin Kaczmarski and Vinny Siena — and was immediately lifted for Taylor Lewis (L, 0-1). With Kaczmarski and Siena at second and first respectively, Thompson tattooed a liner into left field that was misplayed by left-fielder Justin Ellison. The error enabled Kaczmarski to score and Siena and Thompson wound up at second and third. Rome's lead was trimmed to 2-1.
Next, J.C. Rodriguez was intentionally walked to load the bases and the subsequent batter, Jeff Diehl, grounded out to third base that allowed Siena to score and tie up the score. Joe Tuschak then drove in the go-ahead run after he beat out his grounder that rolled softly up the third-base line.
Tyler Bashlor (S, 1) came out of the bullpen and hurled a one-two-three seventh to clinch the sweep.
The Fireflies can complete the three-game sweep of the Braves on Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. Righty Chase Ingram (0-0, 0.00) is back on the hill to face Rome right-hander Patrick Weigel (1-0, 1.50). Team press release
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