Columbia blasts past Augusta

The Columbia Fireflies went deep often at Spirit Communications Park in Tuesday’s 14-2 romp over the Augusta GreenJackets.

Four Columbia players hit home runs in the win. Luis Ortega struck the initial blow in the bottom of the first, crushing a three-run shot over the left-field wall that gave the Fireflies (23-22) a lead they never surrendered.

When the GreenJackets (21-24) scratched across a run in the third inning, Columbia resumed control in the bottom of the fourth when Dash Winningham hit another three-run shot, this one to left-center. The Fireflies extended their lead with two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, before making the score lopsided with five runs in the eighth inning. That’s when Ivan Wilson hit his fifth homer of the season before Kevin Kaczmarski hit a two-run shot on a night where he went 3-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored.

Vinny Siena went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, while Patrick Mazeika and Tyler Moore contributed multi-hit and multi-run performances. All the scoring was more than enough for Andrew Church (1-0), who had nine strikeouts in five innings of work.

The Fireflies will go for the three-game sweep when the team play again today, with first pitch slated for 11:05 a.m.