Cone’s walk-off walk gives Fireflies win

Gene Cone provided the heroics without even swinging his bat.

The Columbia native walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give the Columbia Fireflies a 2-1 win over the Delmarva Shorebirds on Tuesday at Spirit Communications Park.

Columbia had two chances to take the lead in the seventh and eighth innings, but stranded five runners on base. In the ninth, Tim Tebow walked with one out. Ali Sanchez followed with a double and Milton Ramos was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Then, Cone worked a 3-2 count on Matt Throwbridge before taking ball four high to bring in Tebow for the win.

Cone, one of the more patient hitters on the Fireflies, was mobbed at first and given a Gatorade bath by his teammates. It was Cone’s 16^th walk of the season, second on the team behind Desmond Lindsay.

“When they walked Ramos, I said we are winning this game,” Columbia manager Jose Leger said. “Gene was going to either put the ball in play or he was going to walk. It was a really good battle.”

Tebow finished 0-for-2, but walked twice and reached on an error.

Adonis Uceta picked up the win in relief of Gabriel Llanes, who allowed one run on seven hits and struck out six in seven innings of work.

Columbia opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. Luis Carpio doubled with one out, then 18-year-old Andres Gimenez followed with an RBI double in his first at-bat at Spirit Communications Park.

Delmarva tied it in the top of the second on a Preston Palmerio’s RBI single. Palmeiro is the son of former major leaguer Rafael Palmeiro.

Prior to the game, Fireflies pitcher Austin McGeorge was promoted to advanced-A St. Lucie. Jake Simon took McGeorge’s spot on roster.