Diehl’s homer leads Columbia

Jeff Diehl homered and drove in two runs as Columbia rolled past Kannapolis 9-2 on Friday night at Spirit Communications Park.

Vicente Lupo tripled and drove in three runs, while David Thompson doubled and knocked in two for the Fireflies (13-9). Jose Garcia added two hits for Columbia, which jumped out early with four runs in the second inning.

The Fireflies added runs in the third and fourth, and tacked on three in the seventh inning.

Cody Daily and Dante Flores drove in runs for the Intimidators (8-14).

Kevin Canelon (1-1) picked up the win, giving up six hits and two runs in six innings. Craig Missigman and Nicco Blank pitched three shutout innings in relief.

Ryan Riga took the loss for Kannapolis, giving up six runs in four innings.

The teams play the second game of their series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 11:35 PM with the headline "Diehl’s homer leads Columbia."