Columbia Fireflies Game Notes 5.17 at Fredericksburg

May 17, 2023 – Carolina League (CarL) – Columbia Fireflies News Release

The Fireflies continue their series with the Fredericksburg Nationals at Virginia Credit Union Stadium at 12:05 pm today. RHP Ben Kudrna (1-1, 4.85 ERA) toes the rubber for Columbia and LHP Jake Bennett (1-2, 2.05 ERA) gets the nod for Fredericksburg.

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.

—————————-

FIREFLIES CLOSE THE DOOR WITH SIX UNANSWERED: The Columbia Fireflies were down 4-0 exiting the third, but scored six runs after the fifth to win 6-4 vs the Fredericksburg Nationals at Virginia Credit Union Stadium Tuesday night. Lizandro Rodriguez capped off the comeback with a two-run blast in the eighth, scoring Jean Ramirez and putting the Fireflies (20-14) up 5-4. It was Ramirez’s fourth round-tripper of the season and his first since April 30. In the eighth, Roger Leyton added some insurance, scoring Erick Peña from second with an RBI single. Leyton had three hits for a second-consecutive game Tuesday night. He’s 6-8 since Sunday.The bullpen came out and closed the door against Fredericksburg. Eduardo Herrera got things started with two scoreless frames before handing the ball to Chazz Martinez (W, 3-3) who went a pair of innings without allowing a run.

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 with 29.1 and 27.2 innings.

THE RIGHT FOOT: Last night, the Fireflies played the Nationals for the first time in franchise histroy. Although Columbia was trailing 4-0 after the third frame, the scored six after the fifth to win 6-4. Prior to the…