(Story courtesy Augusta GreenJackets)
COLUMBIA – The GreenJackets created chance after chance Thursday night in Columbia, but went 0-11 with men in scoring position and stranded 12 runners as they lost 8-1 to the Fireflies.
After leaving men at second and third in the first against Hiro Wyatt, the Jackets went quiet the next couple of frames, opening the door for Columbia to take the lead against Landon Beidelschies in the bottom of the third. Beidelschies issued a leadoff walk to Stone Russell, and after a wild pitch pushed him to second, Russell could trot home on a two-run blast from Ivan Sosa at the bottom of the order to take the lead.
Augusta put two on with one out in the next half-inning, but a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Dalton McIntyre negated the threat. Columbia tacked on in the bottom of the fourth, as Hyungchan Um reached via a double and then scored on a throwing error from Tanner Smith.
The Jackets fared no better after chasing Wyatt in the top of the 5th, as Andy Basora stranded two more. Columbia was quiet in the fifth frame, but pulled out of reach in the back half of the game as Beidelschies gave way to Luis Arestigueta. Arestigueta ceded two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, as an E5 set a rally in motion that was capped by a double steal and an RBI single from Henry Ramos.
The Fireflies tacked on three more against Arestigueta in the seventh, with two walks and three hits pushing Columbia’s lead to eight. The eight-run deficit is the largest the GreenJackets have faced at any point this season, as the offense has kept them in games nearly every night.
It took Augusta until the top of the ninth to finally break across home and avoid the first shutout of the season, with the top of the order providing just enough spark. Tate Southisene worked a walk, and Alex Lodise singled to push Southisene to third. Luis Guanipa lifted a sacrifice fly to score him, but no more would cross as the GreenJackets left their 12th man on of the game, ending the night 0-11 with runners in scoring position.
After a pair of quieter showings, Augusta’s hitters will look to rebound Friday in the final 7:05 p.m. start of the series. Ethan Bagwell will be the first GreenJacket to start for a fourth time this year, against Michael Lombardi, who struck out 11 batters last time out.
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