Three seasons of Columbia Fireflies baseball are officially in the books. The 2018 season – which began on April 5 at Spirit Communications Park and finished at SRP Park on September 3 – proved to be another wonderful campaign for the players, fans and the organization. As has typically been the case, the Fireflies were again honored with numerous awards. This season, Spirit Communications Park was named the best playing field in the South Atlantic League. That was thanks in large part to the efforts of 2018 SAL Sports Turf Manager of the Year, Danny Losito. League managers and umpires made it abundantly clear that Columbia’s field was the most outstanding in the league. As a result of his hard work, Losito was recently named first assistant groundskeeper for the University of Southern California, where he works on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Southern Cal football and the NFL’s L.A. Rams.
This spring and summer also saw the first wave of former Fireflies to reach the major leagues. Four players who had passed through Columbia – and as recently as just one year ago – fulfilled their lifelong dreams. The first was former South Atlantic League All-Star Merandy Gonzalez. The right-hander made his pro debut with the Marlins (after being traded from the Mets organization the prior year) in April. Left-hander P.J. Conlon would follow with a start for the Mets in May and soon after, pitcher Tyler Bashlor and outfielder Kevin Kaczmarski reached the Mets major league roster.
On the field, the Fireflies proved to be a competitive team. Two former first round draft choices, Anthony Kay and David Peterson, called Columbia home for a portion of the 2018 season. Both received promotions to advanced-A due to their success with the Fireflies and Peterson would even go on to win the Mets Sterling Award for the class-A affiliate (the Sterling Award is given annually to the top Mets prospect at each minor league level). Peterson, the 20th overall selection in the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Oregon, was unflappable in nine starts with the Fireflies and posted a 1.82 ERA.
Six Fireflies were named South Atlantic League all-stars in 2018:
• RHP Joe Cavallaro – 8-2, 2.09 ERA, nine of his 12 starts were quality starts
• RHP Trey Cobb – 3-1, 2.22 ERA, recorded a team-best 10 saves
• C Scott Manea – .261, 12 HRs, 53 RBI, threw out 29 base-stealers (3rd in SAL)
• LHP David Peterson – 1-4, 1.82 ERA, struck out a career-high 10 in a start on June 9
• 1B Jeremy Vasquez - .289, 6 HR, 44 RBI, recorded franchise-record 29-game on-base streak
• RHP Stephen Villines – 54 strikeouts in 33.1 IP, Columbia’s BC Relief Pitcher of month (June)
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