Rome 5 - Columbia 3

Press Release:

ROME, GA – Giovanny Alfonzo bashed his second home run of the season on Sunday in Rome, but the Fireflies stumbled in the series finale to the Braves, 5-3. The Fireflies are off on Monday and return to action at Spirit Communications Park on Tuesday.

Alfonzo’s blast sliced into a 4-0 deficit in the fifth. The infielder smoked an Odalvi Javier pitch over the right-field wall. It was actually Columbia’s (28-26) first home run since May 22 and just the second over the club’s last 20 games.

The Fireflies added another score in that fifth frame. Matt Winaker walked with two outs and later stole second base. Wuilmer Becerra then put the ball into play and bounced a ground ball to Rome (34-22) third baseman Jean Carlos Encarnacion. Encarnacion threw the ball away from first baseman Austin Bush and Winaker scored on the error. The visitors were back within a run.

Prior to that, the Braves jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Riley Delgado plated Drew Waters with a single. Later on in the fourth, Isranel Wilson flashed his power. As he did on Friday, the Rome lefty drilled a two-run home run to give the home team a 3-0 advantage. That grew to a 4-0 lead moments later: first Luis Mejia singled and moved to second after Waters’ base hit. It was a Columbia error this time that allowed Mejia to score all the way from second base.

Columbia’s offense was silent the rest of the game after pulling back within a run in the fifth. It was the home team that added an insurance run in the seventh. This time, Justin Smith scored Waters with a single of his own.

In his return to the mound since being placed on the disabled list on May 12, starter Chris Viall (L, 1-3) threw 52 pitches in two innings of work. The righty struck out three and yielded just a run. Sunday’s game finished with another impressive outing from reliever Stephen Villines. The side-arm righty logged 1.1 innings of scoreless work and struck out the side in the eighth.

Columbia is off on Monday and returns to action on Tuesday