Columbia Fireflies 2018 Game Notes
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COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 2018 GAME NOTES Columbia Fireflies (0-0) vs. Augusta GreenJackets (0-0) RHP Tony Dibrell (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Jason Bahr (0-0, 0.00) Thursday, April 5, 2018 — Spirit Communications Park — First Pitch 7:05 p.m. — Game 1 LISTEN: Fox Sports Radio 1400 AM / ColumbiaFireflies.com / iHeartRadio App WATCH: MiLB.TV GLOW POINTS 2017 SEASON RECAP CONTENTS The 2017 season proved to be a banner year for the Columbia Fireflies at Spirit Pages 2: Today’s Starting Pitcher SAL South 1H Standing: Page 3: Manager & Coaching Staff Home Record: Communications Park. For a second straight season, Fireflies fans proved once again why Road Record: they’re the most valuable in all of Minor League Baseball. Spirit Communications Park hosted Pages 4-6: Individual Hitting Notes Day Record: a new franchise-record 315,034 fans in 2017 – good for 4,773 per game. Page 7: Extra Hitting Notes Night Record: The crowd of 8,412 that arrived for opening day on April 6 was immediately Pages 8-9: Bullpen Notes treated to quite the spectacle when former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow belted a two- Page 10: Miscellaneous Pitching Notes Homestand: run home run in his first professional at-bat. The left-fielder appeared in 64 games for the Page 11: Season Highs and Lows Streak: Page 12: Transactions Fireflies before his promotion to the advanced-A St. Lucie Mets in June. Page 13: Day-by-Day Results Sunday: It was the first glimmer during a year that featured countless shining moments. Monday: Spirit Communications Park was home to the 58th-annual South Atlantic League All-Star Tuesday: vs. Augusta (0-0, 0-0 Home) Wednesday: Game on June 20, a game in which 2017 Fireflies first baseman Dash Winningham was April 5 Home 7:05 p.m. Thursday: named Most Valuable Player. In all, six Fireflies were named to the All-Star Game in their Friday: home park: right-handed pitchers Merandy Gonzalez, Jordan Humphreys, Max Kuhns and April 6 Home 7:05 p.m. Saturday: Adonis Uceta and infielders Michael Paez and Winningham. April 7 Home 6:05 p.m. The culmination of one of the most highly-anticipated afternoons in the city of April: April 8 Home 2:05 p.m. Columbia’s history occurred at the park on August 21. A single-game record 9,629 fans May: April 27 Away 7:05 p.m. June: attended Spirit Communications Park for ‘Total Eclipse of the Park,’ to watch the Fireflies July: battle the Rome Braves during a total solar eclipse. April 28 Away 6:05 p.m. August: The Fireflies experienced the success on the field as well during a first-half April 29 Away 2:05 p.m. September: playoff race. At one point in June, Columbia won a franchise-record nine consecutive games June 8 Home 7:05 p.m. (including a five-game sweep of the Charleston RiverDogs from June 9-12). The stretch Leading after six: June 9 Home 6:05 p.m. Tied after six: helped the club finish the first half with a 40-28 mark, the best in the franchise’s short two- Trailing after six: year history. June 10 Home 2:05 p.m. Leading after seven: Columbia’s pitching staff was untouchable at times in 2017. The right-handed June 30 Away 6:05 p.m. Tied after seven: Trailing after seven: duo of Gonzalez and Humphreys tormented South Atlantic League batters. At one point in July 1 Away 5:05 p.m. the season, the starters were the only pair of teammates in professional baseball – major and Leading after eight: July 2 Away 7:05 p.m. Tied after eight: minor league – each with eight wins. Humphreys’ sterling 2017 outing occurred on April 24 July 3 Away 6:35 p.m. Trailing after eight: when the Floridian struck out a franchise-record 12 batters in just 6.2 innings. In September, July 19 Home 7:05 p.m. Scoring first: Humphreys garnered the NYM Sterling Award, an honor given to the most outstanding player Opponents score first: at every Mets minor league level. July 20 Home 7:05 p.m. Shutout Wins/Loses: Gonzalez, on the other hand (who has since been traded to the Miami Marlins July 21 Home 6:05 p.m. organization), was just as filthy in 2017. The righty chased a league record his first five July 22 Home 2:05 p.m. Fireflies starter less than 6 IP: outings of the season: he hurled 28.2 consecutive scoreless innings (April 9-May 3), which Fireflies starter 6+ IP: July 27 Away 7:05 p.m. Fireflies starter 7+ IP: ended up falling 11 scoreless innings shy of the SAL record (39.2). vs. LH starters: The highlights were not just captured on the mound. A Spirit Communications July 28 Away 6:05 p.m. vs. RH starters: Park fan favorite, Dash Winningham, had one of the richest days at the plate on May 29. His July 29 Away 5:05 p.m. career day morphed into a franchise-record day against the Augusta GreenJackets when the Scoring less than three: August 31 Away 7:05 p.m. first baseman became the first Firefly to whack two home runs in a game (a feat he Scoring three or four: September 1 Away 6:05 p.m. Scoring five or more: accomplished again on June 8). He also drove in six runs and tallied 10 total bases, also single-game records. September 2 Away 6:35 p.m. One-run games: An injury-plagued Fireflies team finished the 2017 season 68-70 overall. September 3 Away 2:05 p.m. Two-run games: 5+ run games: PROSPECTS IN COLUMBIA ROSTER BREAKDOWN Extra Innings: Walk-Off Wins: Columbia’s 2018 roster is filled with plenty of skilled Mets farmhands. Here’s the break- down: 19-year-olds: 1 23-year-olds: 8 Out-hitting opponent: 20-year-olds: 0 24-year-olds: 2 Being out-hit: METS PROSPECTS (according to MLB.com & Baseball America) 21-year-olds: 3 25-year-olds: 1 Same number of hits: 14. LHP Anthony Kay 22. Quinn Brodey 22-year-olds: 10 METS STERLING AWARD WINNERS Series W-L-T (Home): Drafted, Signed out of HS: 1 Series W-L-T (Road): Nicolas Debora, RHP (2017 Brooklyn Cyclones, 2015 DSL Mets) Drafted, Signed out of College: 17 Series W-L-T (Total): Rigoberto Terrazas, INF (2017 Kingsport Mets) International Signings: 5 Series Sweeps (Home): TOP 10-ROUND METS DRAFT PICKS: Undrafted Free Agent Signings: 2 Series Sweeps (Road): Anthony Kay (UConn, 2016 - 1st round), Quinn Brodey (Stanford, 2017 – 3rd), Blake States (13) / Countries (5) Series Sweeps (Total): Tiberi (Louisville, 2016 – 3rd), Tony Dibrell (Kennesaw State, 2017 – 4th), Matt Winaker th th Represented (18): AZ, CA, GA, FL, (Stanford, 2017 – 5 ), Chris Viall (Stanford, 2016 – 6 ), Marcel Renteria (New Mexico White Jerseys: th th IL, KY, MA, NY, OK, PA, TX, UT, Gray Jerseys: State, 2017 – 6 ), Conner O’Neil (Cal. State Northridge, 2017 – 7 ), Trey Cobb (Oklahoma State, 2017 – 8th), Cannon Chadwick (Arkansas, 2017 – 9th) WA, Canada, Dominican Republic, Yellow Jerseys: Mexico, Venezuela Navy Jerseys: #CONNECT WITH THE COLUMBIA FIREFLIES Specialty Jerseys: Most of 2017 Season Spent In: Home crowds of 5,000+: COLUMBIA (A) - 3 Home crowds of 6,000+: Brooklyn (SS) - 14 Home crowds of 7,000+: Kingsport (Adv-R) - 5 /ColumbiaFireflies @ColaFireflies @ColaFireflies Columbia Fireflies DNP, Injury - 2 Sellouts at Spirit Communications Park: Ind. (Atlantic Lg.) - 1 ColumbiaFireflies.com Upcoming Schedule (ET) with Probable Pitchers Friday, April 6 vs. Augusta 7:05 p.m. RHP Joe Cavallaro (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Garrett Cave (0-0, 0.00) Saturday, April 7 vs. Augusta 6:05 p.m. LHP Jake Simon (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP John Gavin (0-0, 0.00) Sunday, April 8 vs. Augusta 2:05 p.m. LHP Anthony Kay (0-0, 0.00) vs. LHP Joe Marciano (0-0, 0.00) Monday, April 9 vs. Hagerstown 7:05 p.m. RHP Chris Viall (0-0, 0.00) Tuesday, April 10 vs. Hagerstown 7:05 p.m. RHP Marcel Renteria (0-0, 0.00) Media Contact: Kevin Fitzgerald — [email protected] — 803-888-3040 (Office) — 908-745-9385 (Cell) FCORTOLUMBIA WAYNE FIREFLIES TINCAPS 2018 2014 G AMEGAME N OTESNOTES TODAY’S STARTING PITCHER 8 Tony Dibrell HT: 6-3 WT: 220 B/T: R/R HOMETOWN: Johns Creek, GA AGE: 22 BORN: November 8, OBTAINED: Selected by the Mets in the 4th round of the 2017 MLB First- 1995 Year Player Draft out of Kennesaw State University (GA) YR CLUB W-L ERA G/GS CG SHO IP H R ER BB K BAA 17 Brooklyn (A-Short) 1-1 5.03 12-0 0 0 19.2 19 13 11 8 28 .253 MiLB CAREER 1-1 5.03 12-0 0 0 19.2 19 13 11 8 28 .253 2018 STARTS NOTES & LINKS Date Opponent Dec IP H R ER BB K RESULT • Appeared in 12 games for the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets A-Short) in 2017 after being selected by the Mets in the 4th round of June’s MLB First-Year Player Draft • Became just the 2nd Kennesaw State Owl drafted between rounds 3-5 … marked 10 straight years an Owl has been drafted • Was named to the A-SUN 2nd Team after a stellar junior season at Kennesaw State last spring … posted a 2.45 ERA in 14 starts … that ERA was 3rd-best in KSU D-I history … finished with a 7- 4 record, 3 CGs and 103 Ks in 95.2 IP • In three years at Kennesaw State, finished 8-8 (39 GP - 22 GS) .