After fast start, homestand ends with consecutive losses
It was a productive first homestand on the field and in the stands for the Columbia Fireflies.
The Fireflies went 5-2 in the first-seven games following a 4-2 loss to Hickory on Wednesday in front of 5,500 fans at Spirit Communications Park.
Columbia drew almost 41,000 fans in its first homestand, an increase of more than 12,000 from last year’s first series in the inaugural season of the club.
Columbia had several factors work in its favor over the first seven games including good weather, spring break for Midlands schools and the draw of Tim Tebow.
The Heisman Trophy winner gets the biggest cheer each night and fans break out their cell phones to record each of his at-bats.
“It’s been phenomenal and the perfect storm,” Fireflies president John Katz said. “We got an exciting team with Tebow and Gene Cone and all these guys. It’s been amazing. Every night how we are going to get more people in the stands and then we do.”
Katz is optimistic the momentum will continue.
At the plate on Wednesday, Tebow went 0-for-3 with a walk. He’s batting .174 with a pair of homers for the season.
Now, Tebow and the rest of the team hit the road for seven games starting on Thursday in Augusta.
The Fireflies don’t return home until April 20 against Lexington.
“We are ready,” Columbia manager Jose Leger said of the upcoming road trip. “I’m eager to see how we approach it, but I think we are ready.”
Yanio Perez homered and three other Hickory players drove in runs in the victory.
Luke Lanphere came out of the Crawdads’ bullpen for the win and Kaleb Fontenot got the save.
Luis Carpio went 2-for-3 with an RBI for Columbia, which stranded seven runners on base and went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
The Fireflies dropped the final two games of the homestand after a 5-0 start.
“I’m very happy with everything,” Leger said. “The last two games we just faced good pitching. They did a good job throwing fastballs inside and we didn’t hit. But that is what good pitching does.”
Hickory | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Taveras cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Prescott dh | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Perez 1b | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Forbes 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Tejeda ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Almonte rf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Valencia c | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Bolin lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Yrizarri 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTALS | 31 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 |
Columbia | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Cone lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Carpio ss | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Lindsay cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Winningham 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
M. Ramos pr-3b | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Paez 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Gamache 3b-1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Tebow dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Medina rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Sanchez c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTALS | 31 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
Hickory | 100 | 100 | 011 | — | 4 |
Columbia | 100 | 000 | 010 | — | 2 |
LOB — Hickory 7, Columbia 7. 2B — Almonte. 3B — Cone. HR — Perez. SF — Carpio.
Hickory | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Hernandez | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Lanphere, W 1-0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Anderson | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Fontenot, S 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Columbia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Gonzalez, L 0-1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
Henry | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Griffin | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
WP — Anderson. HBP — Perez (by Gonzalez); Lindsay (by Lanphere). Umpires — HP: Reed Basner. 1B: John Benken. T — 2:57. A — 5,500.
This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 11:06 PM with the headline "After fast start, homestand ends with consecutive losses."