Press Release:
HAGERSTOWN, MD – The easy-going right-handed starter Nicholas Debora looked his sharpest on the mound on Wednesday. Columbia’s hurler tossed seven scoreless innings, scattered three hits and led the Fireflies to a 5-0 series-opening victory over Hagerstown at Municipal Stadium. It was Columbia’s fourth shut-out win in 2018.
In just his second start as a Firefly, Debora (W, 2-2) was delightful. The 24-year-old had a great command of all his pitches and wound up striking out five Suns batters. Debora only allowed five hitters to reach base, two of which in his final frame on the mound. Righty Conner O’Neil finished the job with two more scoreless innings. O’Neil has been nearly untouchable over the last two months. Since May 12, the Kennewick, Washington, native has surrendered just one run (12 appearances, 16 IP).
Columbia’s (9-10, 43-43) offense tallied 10 hits – seven of which were extra-base hits (tying a season high). Dionis Paulino went yard twice on Wednesday and Blake Tiberi and Scott Manea each recorded three hits (their fifth and fourth three-hit games of the year, respectively).
Paulino became the third Firefly in 2018 to homer twice in a game (Jeremy Vasquez on July 7 and Quinn Brodey on April 18).
SCORING SUMMARY:
Top 1 – Scott Manea doubles in Matt Winaker (who began the inning with a triple himself). COL 1, HAG 0
Top 2 – Dionis Paulino clobbers his third homer of the season over the right-center field wall. COL 2, HAG 0
Top 3 – Quinn Brodey doubles in two runs…Manea doubled earlier in the inning, his second of the night (and his sixth in eight games in the month of July). COL 4, HAG 0
Top 6 –Paulino goes yard for the second time on the Wednesday…becomes the third 2018 Firefly to homer twice in a game (Brodey,Jeremy Vasquez). COL 5, HAG 0
The 24 year olds rock - Debora pitched well, and Paulino now has 4 homers in his past 9 games, impressive by Mets minor league standards.
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