Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.16 at Fredericksburg

May 16, 2023 – Carolina League (CarL) – Columbia Fireflies News Release

The Fireflies kick-off a series with the Fredericksburg Nationals tonight at Virginia Credit Union Stadium at 7:05 pm. RHP Steven Zobac (1-0, 0.64 ERA) gets the ball for Columbia and Fredericksburg counters with rehabber Cole Henry (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

Columbia returns home Tuesday, May 23 to start a six-game series with the Charleston RiverDogs. The week marks the return of Copa de la Diversíon weekend presented by Southern Recipe Small Batch Pork Rinds, where the Fireflies will become Los Chiccarones de Columbia for the weekend. Friday, the Fireflies will give away a soccer scarf for the first 1,000 fans through the gates thanks to Southern Recipe Small Batch and Saturday, we’ll have a fantastic fireworks display. Tickets are still available at FirefliesTickets.com.

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FIREFLIES DROP CLOSER 9-8: The Fireflies entered the ninth with an 8-7 lead, but couldn’t hold back the Salem Red Sox, who won 9-8 after Albert Feliz drove a walk-off single to left to upset the Fireflies. Samuel Valerio (BS, 1; L, 1-1) struck out the first batter of the ninth, but then Allan Castro was able to scurry to first on a wild pitch for the third strike to set the table. He scored on a fielder’s choice to tie the game with one out in the inning. After two walks, Feliz came up to the plate and finished the job for the Red Sox. The back-and-forth contest had its moments for the Fireflies (19-14) who scored in each inning from the fourth to the eighth, but ultimately fell short. Brett Squires, Roger Leyton and Junior Calderon all drove in a pair of RBI in the game. Calderon had a huge two-out, two RBI single in the fourth to push the Fireflies in front 4-3.

RUNNING IN PLACE: Last week, the Fireflies were 9-59 with runners in scoring position (.152). That includes an 0-19 stretch Thursday and Friday. Columbia closed out the series scoring eight runs Sunday despite going 2-12 with runners threatening.

I’M LOOKING AT THE MAN IN THE MIRROR: David Sandlin and Frank Mozzicato have gone back-and-forth on the strikeouts leader board for the Carolina League this season. Thursday it was Mozzicato who retook the lead with seven punchouts to leave him with 48 on the season. He’s one ahead of Sandlin. The next closest in the Carolina League is Fayetteville’s Trey Dombrowski, who has 39 strikeouts on the campaign. Entering Sunday’s game, the two Fireflies were also first and second in the circuit…