Photo courtesy of Al Rabon/Midland Sports

The three game series between the Lexington Legends (8-10) and Columbia Fireflies (10-8) at Spirit Communications Park starts tonight. It should be an interesting series as the Legends will have two of the Royals top ten prospects (Nolan Watson #5 and Scott Blewett #9) on the mound. The Lexington pitching staff has a 5.33 ERA which ranks second worst in the league. 

The Fireflies will counter with Chase Ingram, P.J. Conlon, and Thomas McIlraith who was part of a no-hitter back on April 9. As a staff, Columbia brings a 3.95 ERA in the series and have struck out 162 batters in 155 innings. 

The Legends are 3-7 in their past ten games but won their last outing 11-10 against Northern Division leader West Virginia. The Fireflies won three of four against the Greenville Drive this past weekend.

Offensively both teams have been inconsistent at the plate but each team has the ability to break out at any time. Lexington has highly rated prospects, OF Cody Jones (.296) with an OBP of .367, OF Amalani Fukofuka (.269), D.J. Burt who is struggling at the plate but still is second on the team with 12 RBI and the Royals 7^th rated prospect SS Marten Gasparini.

The Fireflies have had their won offensive struggles earlier in the season but it seems the bats have woken up, producing 46 runs over their last seven games. The Fireflies offense of been led by the trio of  second baseman Vinny Siena (.368), first baseman Dash Winningham (.300) and third baseman David Thompson (.297) who has 18 RBI which puts him as co-leader in SAL.

Winningham has been on fire lately, going 10 for 23 last week and was our Mets Minors Offensive Player of the Week. Siena currently leads the South Atlantic League with 16 walks and is tied for second with seven doubles.

Right-hander Tyler Bashlor has stepped up in the Fireflies bullpen, tossing eight innings and only allowing one run on four hits ten. He has struck out ten while showing off a mid-90’s fastball. Lefty reliever Seth Davis has been impressive as well this year, he has a 2.19 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in 12.1 innings.

The Columbia defense has been anchored by great seasons in the outfield by Ivan Wilson and Tucker Tharp while shortstop Milton Ramos has looked fantastic.

Tuesday April 25 7:05 PM, Nolan Watson (0-1, 10.97) @ Chase Ingram (1-1, 2.81)

Wednesday April 26 7:05 PM, Emilio Ogando (2-0, 2.57) @ P.J. Conlon (2-0, 1.08)

Thursday April 27 7:05 PM, Scott Blewett (1-2, 5.60) @ Thomas McIlraith (1-1, 5.14)