Fireflies Rally Falls Short in 4-2 Loss

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fireflies pulled a late inning rally together, putting the go-ahead run on the basepaths in the eighth, but couldn’t climb the mountain as they fell to the Fredericksburg Nationals 4-2 Tuesday night at Segra Park.

Ryan McDonagh (L, 1-1) closed out the longest start of his career with six strikeouts over 5.1 innings. He allowed three runs off two hits and a pair of walks before moving the ball to the bullpen.

Jhon Reyes spun 1.2 hitless innings for the Fireflies before Hunter Alberini spun a scoreless eighth inning to keep Columbia within a pair.

On the other side, Liam Sullivan (W, 4-2) struck out seven over five frames. He allowed three hits and one run to give his bullpen a lead to work with. After that he handed the ball to Gus Hughes who allowed one-run over three frames before LJ Waco (S, 1) closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

The FredNats got on the board first in the top of the second inning. Brandon Boissiere started his rehab appearance with a single up the middle and came around on Hunter Hines’ fourth homer of the year to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

Hines homered again in the ninth inning to stretch the FredNats lead to 4-2.

Fredericksburg added insurance in the top of the fifth inning. Dashyll Tejada walked to lead-off the frame before stealing both second and third to set the table for the bottom of the order. Nate Rombach lifted a sacrifice fly deep to center to score Tejada to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

Columbia struck back in the bottom of the fifth. Angel Ramirez singled to left field with a pair of outs to start the rally. Next, Jhosmmel Zue clubbed a double 100 MPH down the left field line to score Ramirez to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The final rally for Columbia came in the eighth frame. Roni Cabrera mashed a one out double to set the table. After that, Josh Hammond singled to move runners to the corners for Sean Gamble to lay down a perfect squeeze bunt to plate Cabrera while everyone reached safely to make it a one-run game.

The Fireflies continue their series with the Fredericksburg Nationals tomorrow night at Segra Park at 7:05 pm. RHP Shane Van Dam (2-5, 5.09 ERA) takes the ball for Columbia and Fredericksburg counters with RHP Grant Manning (3-1, 3.14 ERA).

Tomorrow night is a CVETS Dog Days of Summer at Segra Park. With a purchase of a lawn ticket, fans can bring their pup with them to the game. Don’t forget—the Fireflies are home with three-straight nights of Fireworks Friday-Sunday. Reserve a seat now at FirefliesTickets.com.