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Andrew Church Tosses Gem in Fireflies Debut

By Al Rabon

May 25, 2016 No comments

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Last night the Columbia Fireflies (23-22) were only able to get two runs but in Tuesday night’s encounter with the Augusta GreenJackets (21-24) a San Francisco Giants affiliate was a different story The Fireflies hit a franchise best four home runs to lead them to a 14-2 victory over the GreenJackets.

Andrew Church, 2nd round pick in 2013, was added to the roster before the game and made his 2016 season debut for Columbia. The top of the first for Church didn’t look good in the first inning as Augusta’s Jalen Miller hit a triple but Church got Dillon Dobson on a swing third strike and he induced a grounder to third baseman Luis Ortega to end the inning.

Columbia’s first started with a walk to Vinny Siena, with one out Siena made to second on a passed ball by catcher Matt Winn. After J.C. Rodriguez flied out to center, Patrick Mazeika walked and the next batter Luis Ortega hit his first homer of the season over the left field wall to put the Fireflies up 3-0.

Augusta got on the scoreboard in the third. Seth Harrison reached on an error by third baseman Luis Ortega (2nd of the game) then Lucius Fox hit a liner to center and an error by CF Ivan Wilson allowed Fox to advance to second. The next batter Jalen Miller reached base on an error by Siena, scoring Harrison. Church was able to get out of any further trouble by striking out the next three batters and the Fireflies holding on to a 3-1 lead.

Opening the bottom of the fourth the Fireflies got started quickly with two singles by Mazeika and Ortega, with two runners on Dash Winningham launched a drive over the left center field wall for a three-run homer making it a 6-1 game.

The Fireflies extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth when they scored three runs. Siena opened the inning up with a single to center and Siena promptly stole second, Kevin Kaczmarski followed up with a single to center scoring Siena and chasing Logan Webb in only four plus innings of work. With J.C. Rodriguez at the plate Kaczmarski took second on another passed ball by Winn and a couple pitches later Kaczmarski stole third. Rodriguez hit a grounder to second scoring Kaczmarski giving Columbia an 8-1 lead.

In the sixth inning the Fireflies added another run as Tyler Moore walked and moved over to second on a ground out by Joe Tuschak and then scored on a single by Kaczmarski making it 9-1 Fireflies. The Fireflies blew it open in the bottom of the eighth by scoring five more runs which included a run scoring single by Siena, a solo homer by Ivan Wilson (5) over the left field wall and a two run shot by Kaczmarski (1) over the right center field wall increasing the lead to 14-1.

Along with the convincing win for the Fireflies was some outstanding performances including the first start for Andrew Church who pitched five strong innings giving up two hits and striking out a career-high nine batters on the way to his first win since August 22nd of 2015 with the Brooklyn Cyclones. He hit 94/95 MPH with his fastball and was spinning a ton of curveballs that got him both swinging strikeouts as well as looking.

Lefty reliever Seth Davis pitched three scoreless innings with three strikeouts and gave up only two hits. He lowered his season ERA to 2.84 while striking out 24 batters in 25,1 innings.

The offense had been struggling the past few games but Tuesday night everyone in the lineup had a hit except J.C. Rodriguez. Kaczmarski needed a good night and that he did by going 3-5 with four RBI and his first South Atlantic League home run. Ortega, in just his second game of the season, went 3 for 5 with three RBI and his first homer of the season as well.

The catcher Mazeika who has been on a tear since being inserted to the lineup since coming off the DL, went 2 for 4 with two runs scored. He is hitting .435 and has hit in six out of his first seven games. Box Score

Wednesday night Columbia looks to sweep Augusta in the final game of the three game series with game time at 11:05. Augusta will have left-hander Grant Watson (2-3 3.48) on the mound and Columbia will counter with Kevin Canelon (2-3 3.00).

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