Fireflies Game Notes: June 23 vs. Lakewood (Game 70)

Columbia Fireflies (1-1, 35-34) vs. Lakewood BlueClaws (1-1, 42-29)

RHP Joe Cavallaro (7-1, 2.06) vs. LHP Damon Jones (5-2, 2.05)

Sat., June 23, 2018 — Spirit Communications Park — First Pitch 6:05 p.m. — Game 70

ABOUT LAST GAME: The Fireflies flipped the script on Friday and blasted the BlueClaws, 9-1 (a night after Lakewood had won, 8-1). Columbia tallied 15 hits—two shy of tying its season-high—and all nine batters in the order hit safely. Tony Dibrell dazzled as well on the mound and picked up his third win of the season after hurling 5.1 innings (the righty also struck out seven).

TERMINIX PEST PLAYER OF THE GAME: On Friday, it was catcher Scott Manea. The righty became the first Firefly this season to tally four hits in a game (he finished 4-for-4 with a walk). In fact, he’s the first Firefly to record four hits in a game since Luis Carpiodid so (4-for-5) on August 6, 2017 @ Augusta (a game that lasted 13 innings).

BLOWOUT BY THE NUMBERS: All nine batters on Friday hit safely and that’s not the only intriguing statistic from the blowout:

· Four batters tallied multi-hit games

· For the first time all season, four different hitters each drove in 2 runs

· Columbia matched its largest margin of victory (eight runs)

NUGGET OF THE NIGHT: Not a single Columbia batter struck out on Friday. That’s the first time that’s occurred in franchise history (347 games).

LOW STRIKEOUT GAMES—TEAM, FRANCHISE HISTORY (9+ Inn. Games)

June 22, 2018 vs. LWD - 0      May 15, 2016 vs. ASH (10 Inn.) - 3

April 21, 2017 vs. HIC - 2            April 16, 2017 @ AUG - 3

June 17, 2017 vs. LEX - 2            July 30, 2016 vs. ASH - 3

April 14, 2018 @ ASH - 3

RAPH-TASTIC: Outfielder Raphael Gladu smacked a pair of hits on Friday vs. Lakewood. The Canadian is now hitting .333 over his last 31 games (since May 9). He’s hit safely in 28 of those 31 games.

DOUBLE DOWN: Jeremy Vasquez doubled twice on Friday. It’s the second time this season (Last: April 24 @ Charleston) the team’s leader in doubles recorded a pair of two-baggers. In fact, that feat in general has only been accomplished three times this year (Gio Alfonzo - April 17 @ Greenville).

REINFORCEMENTS: Columbia’s bullpen has been extremely reliable over the last 12 games

· 37.2 IP, 32 H, 7 ER, 11 BB, 39 K … *1.67 ERA*