West Virginia 3 - Columbia 2

Press Release:

COLUMBIA, SC – Columbia played in its seventh one-run game in its last nine, but came out on the losing end on Monday. West Virginia scored a run in the top half of the 11^th and won the series opener, 3-2. The Fireflies have played in nothing but close games in the month of May: 15 of the 19 games have been decided by three runs or fewer.

Columbia (22-21) entered the ninth inning with a 2-1 advantage. The leadoff batter for the Power, Cal Mitchell, drew a walk and sprinted to third base on a Deon Stafford bloop single to right. The reliever Stephen Villines struck out Oneil Cruz but allowed a single to Rodolfo Castro that tied the score at 2-2. Columbia went down in order in the home half of the ninth and headed into extras for the eighth time this season.

The teams failed to score in the 10^th, but West Virginia (24-17) wasted little time pulling ahead 3-2 in the 11^th. With the runner Chris Sharpe placed at second base (as per the new Minor League Baseball regulations), Mitchell scorched an RBI double to left-center field. Taylor Henry (L, 0-1) then retired the next three hitters in order, including a strikeout of Castro.

Columbia went down in the bottom half of the 11^th with nothing more than an Ali Sanchez single. The Fireflies could not tie or take a lead and dropped to 5-3 in extra-inning games in 2018.

This was the first time all season the Fireflies lost a game after having held a lead after eight frames. The club was previously 17-0 when leading heading to the ninth.

Columbia was trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh. The home team sprang for two scores to take its first lead. The inning began with a Matt Winaker triple down the right-field line. Winaker scored when Scott Manea bounced out to Cruz, the Power’s shortstop. Raphael Gladu was next hit by a pitch and then placed himself in scoring position after swiping second base. In a clutch moment, Edgardo Fermin slashed a base hit to left, scoring Gladu.

Speaking of Gladu, the Canadian singled in the fifth inning on Monday, extending his hit streak to 10 straight games – one off tying a franchise record.

Blake Weiman (W, 1-0) picked up the victory for West Virginia after hurling four scoreless frames.

A couple relievers out of Columbia’s bullpen were just as impressive. After starter Marcel Renteria exited the game in the first inning, Darwin Ramos (3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 K), Nicolas Debora (3.0 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 4 K) and Trey Cobb (1 IP, 0 ER, 2 K) combined to surrender just one run over 7.1 innings.