Columbia Fireflies (7-4) at Rome Braves (8-3)

Columbia Fireflies (7-4) at Rome Braves (8-3)

LHP Blake Taylor (0-1, 5.40) vs. RHP Bryse Wilson (1-0, 3.00)

Monday, April 17, 2017 — State Mutual Stadium (Rome, GA) — First Pitch 7:00 p.m. — Game 12

LISTEN: ESPN Columbia 94.9 FM & 1230 AM / ColumbiaFireflies.com / TuneIn Radio App

ABOUT LAST GAME: Columbia fell 7-6 to the Augusta GreenJackets in the series finale Sunday at Lake Olmstead Stadium. On the bright side, the Fireflies’ offense had a season-low three strikeouts. Luis Carpiocollected his team-leading sixth multi-hit game. The squad also turned its first double play of the season. 

DO THE HEISMAN: Tim Tebow has driven in nine runs in his first nine games with the Fireflies. He was responsible for four of the seven runs tallied in the last two games. The former Heisman trophy winner has reached base safely in eight of his nine games played.

WHEN IN ROME: The Fireflies logged an 8-2 record while on the road against the Braves last season. Six of these 10 games were decided by two runs or less.

ALONE AT THE TOP: The Fireflies are the only team in the South Atlantic League with two starting pitchers who each have at least two wins. Merandy Gonzalez and Jordan Humphreys have a combined 4-0 record through each of their first 2 starts.

BULLPEN USAGE: During the first 10 games, Columbia relievers imprinted an impressive 2.78 ERA in 32.1 innings (10 earned runs). On Sunday, the Fireflies’ bullpen yielded six earned runs and used three relievers in a game for just the third time this season (11 total games).

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: On this day in 2009, Mets outfielder Gary Sheffield delivered with a pinch-hit home run at Citi Field. This turned out to be Sheffield’s 500th career home run. At the time, he became the 25th player in MLB history to achieve this milestone.