Big inning dooms Fireflies in first loss of season
The Columbia Fireflies season-opening, five-game winning streak was snapped Tuesday in a 5-1 loss to the Hickory Crawdads.
The game at Spirit Communications Park started well for the Fireflies, as starting pitcher Blake Taylor (0-1) continued Columbia’s mastery of opposing batters. He kept the Crawdads off the scoreboard for five innings, as Fireflies pitchers hadn’t allowed a run more than 25 innings.
That streak, and ultimately the winning streak, came to a crashing halt in the sixth inning as Hickory broke out with four runs.
Taylor got in trouble, loading the bases with a hit batter, single and walk. With no outs, he was pulled in favor of Austin McGeorge, who struck out the first batter he faced, but a run scored on a passed ball.
Another hit batter reloaded the bases, but McGeorge rallied with a strikeout. The chance to escape with minimal damage disappeared when Hickory’s Isaias Quiroz tripled.
The Crawdads padded their lead with a run in the eighth off Adonis Uceta.
Catcher Anthony Dimino (2-for-4) gave the Fireflies an early lead, scoring a run in the second inning. He singled and later scored on a Jose Miguel Medina single.
The Fireflies (5-1) were held in check by Tyler Phillips (1-0), who allowed the single run on four hits and a walk in five innings of work. He had four strikeouts, as did Hickory relief pitchers Demarcus Evans and Jacob Lemoine.
It was a quiet night at the plate for Tim Tebow, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. The Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback reached base when he was hit by an Evans pitch, but this was the first game he’s played he didn’t record a base hit.
The teams return for the series finale on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Hickory | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Taveras cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Yrizarri 2b | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Perez lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Forbes 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Tejeda ss | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Scott 1b | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Almonte rf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Bolin dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Quiroz c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
TOTALS | 32 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
Columbia | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Cone rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Carpio 2b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Lindsay cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Winningham 1b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Paez ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Dimino c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tebow lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Medina dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
M. Ramos 3b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 31 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 12 |
Hickory | 000 | 004 | 010 | — | 5 |
Columbia | 010 | 000 | 000 | — | 1 |
E — Paez. PB — Dimino. LOB — Hickory 7, Columbia 7. 2B — Perez. 3B — Quiroz. SB — Carpio. CS — Yrizarri, Dimino. SF — Paez 2; Winningham.
Hickory | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Phillips, W 1-0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Evans | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
Lemoine | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Columbia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Taylor, L 0-1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
McGeorge | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Uceta | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
WP — Evans, Uceta. HBP — Perez (by Taylor, B); Almonte (by McGeorge); Tebow (by Evans). Umpires — HP: John Benken. 1B: John Benken. T — 2:51. A — 5,388.
This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Big inning dooms Fireflies in first loss of season."