(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
COLUMBIA – The Columbia Fireflies (25-26, 59-58) got help from all over the lineup Friday night, as Gabriel Silva crushed two home runs and Jhosmmel Zue threw out two runners behind the plate to push past the Augusta GreenJackets (27-24, 62-55) 5-4 for the third straight night.
In a sport so often defined by unexpected heroes, Silva is perhaps the biggest of the bunch this year against Augusta. The sixth-year pro, who is the longest tenured member of the Firefly roster, entered the game 3-47 with 24 Ks so far this year. Yet Silva had the game of his life, hammering a game-tying home run off of Landon Beidelschies in the third and a go-ahead home run in the 6th against Ryan Heppner that proved to be the game winner.
Tonight was the first time all week that the team that scored first was not the winning team, as the Jackets took a 1-0 lead in the third before Silva immediately tied things in the bottom half. It was a solo home run for Augusta in the inning as well, as Dominic Kibler roped his first professional homer to right field for the game’s first run.
Though Augusta would eventually reclaim the lead with a three-run sixth, courtesy of a Caden Merritt RBI single, a Matt Scannell fielder’s choice, and a run-scoring error, there was certainly meat left on the bone for the offense due to a series of baserunning snafus. The troubles began in the third, when Juan Mateo tried to stretch a two-out single into a double and was thrown out by two steps. Then it was Zue’s turn to shine, as he neutralized stolen base attempts from Merritt in the 5th and Parker Brosius in the 7th to hamstring rallies and keep Augusta from bringing home the tying run.
After Silva’s go-ahead homer in the sixth, neither offense would score, as the back-end relievers were lockdown for both teams. Adiel Melendez posted two hitless innings to keep Augusta within a run, but Andy Basora posted his longest outing of the year, parlaying the assistance from Zue into a nine-out save and a third straight win for the Fireflies.
Augusta has two more chances against their closest geographic rival this season, before heading back home for the year’s final homestand. Saturday gives Luis Arestigueta a second crack at Columbia, against whom he struggled last month, though the righty did go six scoreless innings last week. He matches up with Jose Gutierrez, who has faced the Jackets three times with his most success coming in Columbia.
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