Fireflies complete sweep

For a third straight game, the Fireflies erased a deficit and soared past Rome, winning 9-3 on Wednesday. Columbia swept the Braves during the last visit to Rome and is 6-0 this season at State Mutual Stadium.

The visitors entered the seventh inning trailing, 3-2. Jeff Diehl drew a leadoff walk against reliever Adam McCreery (0-1) and scored after Kevin Kaczmarski drove him in.

In the eighth inning, Kaczmarski smashed a bases loaded triple to the right-center field wall that scored everyone. It was the second straight game Kaczmarski cleared the bases with an extra-base hit. The native of Cary, Illinois, plated seven runs in the three-game series.

Two other runs scored in the eighth to give Columbia (28-25) an 8-3 lead. J.C. Rodriguez drove in one of those runs; the switch-hitter finished 3-for-3 with a double.

Milton Ramos’ single in the ninth scored Dash Winningham to increase the Fireflies’ lead to six runs. Tyler Bashlor tossed two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth to preserve the win. The righty has a allowed just one run over his past 15 2/3 innings pitched.

Tyler Badamo (3-3) picked up his second straight win for Columbia. The right hander shut out Rome (20-33) through the first five innings. The visitors had a 2-0 lead with two outs in the sixth before Braves’ sluggers Luke Dykstra and Austin Riley smacked back-to-back base hits off of Badamo. The next hitter, Carlos Castro, drilled his second home run of the series to give the home team the lead – albeit briefly.

Overall, Badamo was impressive – striking out four and walking no one for a second straight start.

The Fireflies return to Spirit Communications Park on Thursday for a three-games series with the Hagerstown Suns. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Fireflies complete sweep."