The Columbia Fireflies look to get back on track after an up and down week. At the start of last week the Fireflies swept the Rome Braves on the road and it looked like it would be a good weekend since the Fireflies were headed back home for three games. Instead of continuing their win streak they found themselves being swept at home against South Atlantic leader Hagerstown. The rough part was losing the final game of the series 2-1 in 12 innings Saturday night after having their top pitcher P.J. Conlon go 10 innings, throwing only 97 pitches.
Hopefully after Sunday’s off day the team will regroup and get started on another win streak at the expense of the Augusta GreenJackets (28-27), the Fireflies swept the GreenJackets at home back on May 23-25. It will not be easy since the GreenJackets have been a roll themselves winning seven of their last eight games and three in a row.
What’s carried the GreenJackets during the past eight games has been their pitching along with the resurgence of a few of the Augusta hitters that have begun heat up. They include catcher Miguel Gomez, who has a (.325) average the past 10 games including a six-game hitting streak. Outfielder Dylan Davis (.279) with a team leading 31 RBI’s, Dillon Dobson (.264) leads the GreenJackets in home runs with eight, and outfielder Seth Harrison (.282) in the last ten games.
The GreenJacket pitching staff has really picked things up the past month lead by Corey Taylor (4-1, 1.94) who has only given up three runs in his last four starts. Last year’s Giants first rounder Phil Bickford (2-4, 2.63) has given up three runs in his last four starts. The rotation is rounded out by Michael Connolly (2-2, 3.35), and Michael Santos (4-2, 2.91).
The Fireflies (28-28) offense has been inconsistent since the season started but what has been consistent is their very talented pitching staff. The staff is lead by starters P.J. Conlon (7-1, 1.21) with a 0.93 WHIP, Andrew Church (2-0, 0.71) has had two solid starts (first was a 14-2 win against Augusta) since joining the team couple weeks ago. Kevin Canelon (4-3, 3.16) and Tyler Badamo (3-3, 3.52) who has only given up eight runs in his last five starts. Church, Canelon and Badamo will make the starts in that order for the series.
As good as the starters have been the Fireflies may have five of the best relievers in the minors, Columbia has relied on these five relievers to carry the load since the start of May. Christian Montgomery (0-1, 1.80, 15 IP, 23 S0). Tyler Bashlor (0-1, 1.02, 17 IP, 23 SO). Alex Palsha (1-1, 2.51, 7 SV, 14.1 IP, 20 SO). Craig Missigman (1.33), and Seth Davis (1-1, 2.25). Since the beginning of May these five relievers have pitched 73.2 innings and given up only 13 earned runs.
The Fireflies offense has gone through stretches where the ball looks like a beach ball to about 2-3 hitters and at the same time the rest of the team seems they are trying to hit a marble. The team can’t seem to hit at the same time causing Columbia to struggle scoring runs.
Vinny Siena has been the most consistent hitter (.293) but has gone hitless the past four games. David Thompson (.288) is second in SAL in doubles (17) and has been struggling since coming off the DL, although he may be coming around after his solo home run Saturday night against Hagerstown. Patrick Mazeika who was red hot for about two weeks but has cooled off, as he is hitting .184 during his past 10 games. The two recent bright spots are Luis Ortega (.268) who has hit in four out of the past four games and Milton Ramos is hitting .278 in his last 10 games.
