Columbia Fireflies (25-20) AT Augusta GreenJackets (21-27) Tonight’s Top Prospects Game: 46 (Road: 23) | Date: June 30, 2021 |SRP Park | North Augusta, SC RHP Ben Hernandez - 15th KC Radio: Stream Guys/ColumbiaFireflies.com Airtime: N/A SS Brady McConnell - 20th KC OF Darryl Collins - 23rd KC SS Vaughn Grissom - 17th ATL PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Tyler Owens - 23rd ATL RHP Cruz Noriega (3-1, 4.88 ERA) vs RHP Tanner Gordon (1-4, 5.09 ERA) RHP William Woods - 26th ATL NORIEGA: Worked four scoreless innings with half a dozen strikeouts in his last road outing (@ CSC) Current Road Trip (6/29-7/4) GORDON: Allowed four runs in 2.2 innings at Columbia June 17 Record: 0-1 Batting Statistics: STRONG START FROM ALCANTARA SQUANDERED IN 6-5 LOSS: After five scoreless frames from starter AVG: 10-for-35 (.200) Adrian Alcantara, the Fireflies bullpen couldn’t contain the Augusta GreenJackets’ offense, allowing half a dozen runs AB: 35 RISP: 2-for-8 (.250) in a 6-5 loss at SRP Park Tuesday night. Luis De Avila (L, 4-1) hurried through the first two batters in the sixth before H: 10 allowing back-to-back jacks from Bryson Horne and Willie Carter to tie the game at a pair a piece. In the seventh, R: 5 the lefty allowed four hits, a sacrifice and issued an intentional walk to allow the GreenJackets (21-27) to score four HR: 1 more runs to push the lead to 6-2. Alcantara put together another excellent outing for Columbia. The righty fanned BB: 2 a handful across five innings and allowed only four hits during the start. Alcantara has now allowed two earned runs SO: 7 or less in each of his last seven outings. SB: 2 Pitching/Defensive Statistics: W-L: 0-1 COLLINS CRUSHING BALL: Fireflies outfielder Darryl Collins has always had one of the higher averages on ERA: 6.75 the team, but over the course of the last week, he’s been able to show a bit of his power while increasing his batting Quality Starts: 0 average. Dating back to June 24, the lefty has played in four games and has tallied five hits in 16 at-bats (.313). IP: 8.0 Collins has driven in seven RBI, drawn two walks and stolen his fifth base of the season during that stretch as well. H: 11 R: 6 ER: 6 EL DURO SHOWING HIS STUFF: After a slow start to the season, Juan Carlos Negret has found his stride in Saves/Opportunites: 0/1 the month of June. The slugger has cracked six homers this month, which is tied with Kannapolis’s Bryan Ramos BB: 3 SO: 9 and Carolina’s Zavier Warren for most this month. The slugger is hitting just .181 this month, but when he makes HR: 2 Errors: 0 contact, he makes it count. Negret has 11 hits this month, eight of which have gone for extra bases. He has two doubles to go along with his six homers in June. 2021 vs. GreenJackets 10-8 YOU WANNA SEE SOME REAL SPEED?: The Fireflies saw Tyler Tolbert climb his way a position higher on Date Location Result the all-time team leaderboard. Tolbert stole a Fireflies-best three bases in Friday night’s game to give him 21 on the 6/15 Columbia W, 4-3 season. That tied him for second-most in a single season for a Fireflies player with Hansel Moreno, who accomplished 6/16 Columbia L, 7-5 the feat in 2018. He’s chasing Jacob Zanon, who stole 28 bags in 2017. Tolbert stole a base again Tuesday to increase 6/17 Columbia W, 5-4 his total to 25 this year. 6/18 Columbia W, 5-0 6/19 Columbia L, 8-3 EMSHOFF EMERGING: Catcher Kale Emshoff started the month of June off in a rut. Columbia’s backstop began 6/20 Columbia PPD the month 1-30 at the plate with 15 strikeouts and eight walks. That’s a .033 batting average and a .230 on-base 6/29 Augusta L, 6-5 percentage. He’s picked things up the last two days though, going 2-5 at the dish with a pair of walks and a homer. It 6/30 Augusta 7:05 pm only makes sense that the Royals’ 30th-ranked prospect, according to MLB.com, would get hot again while the team 6/31 Augusta 7:05 pm 7/1 Augusta 7:05 pm is at home. This year, Emshoff has a .311 average at home with all three of his homers and 14 RBI across 45 at-bats. 7/2 Augusta 7:05 pm That’s compared to a .146 average and eight RBI in 48 at-bats on the road in 2021. 7/3 Augusta 6:35 pm 7/4 Augusta 6:35 pm SAVING THE OPPORTUNITY: Last night, Walter Pennington earned his team-leading third save of the year. The southpaw has earned all three of his saves at home and has now punched out 18 hitters in 11.2 innings at Segra Park this year. Despite allowing an earned run last night, the Coloradoan still has a 1.54 ERA at home and has maintained 2019 Results: 11-6 AUG a 0.77 ERA at the friendly confines in 2021. All-Time Record: 55-54 COL 2021 Low-A East League First Half Standings Fireflies at a Glance South Division Italics=Eliminated from Playoffs North Division Italics=Eliminated from Playoffs Central Division Italics=Eliminated from Playoffs 2021 Quick Records Overall Record: 25-20 W-L GB PCT W-L GB PCT W-L GB PCT Charleston 32-15 -- .681 Delmarva 31-16 -- .660 Carolina 28-19 -- .596 Place: 2nd Columbia 25-20 6.0 .556 Salem 27-22 5.0 .551 Down East 28-20 0.5 .583 GB: 6.0 Myrtle Beach 21-27 11.5 .438 Lynchburg 25-22 6.0 .532 Fayetteville 18-29 10.0 .383 Augusta 21-27 11.5 .438 Fredericksburg 14-35 18.0 .286 Kannapolis 15-33 13.5 .312 Home: 13-10 Away: 12-10 Last 10 5-5 2021 Season Leaders Pitching Probables Batting Avg: Collins - .287 Home Runs: Negret - 8 Date Opponent/Time Fireflies Starter vs. Opponent RBI: Negret - 24 6/30 at AUG/7:05 pm RHP Cruz Noriega (3-1, 4.88 ERA) vs RHP Tanner Gordon (1-4, 5.09 ERA) Stolen Bases: Tolbert - 25 7/1 at AUG/7:05 pm RHP Matt Stil (2-1, 6.46 ERA) vs RHP Jared Johnson (0-2, 4.66 ERA) 7/2 at AUG/7:05 pm RHP Anderson Paulino (3-2, 4.37 ERA) vs TBA Wins: De Avila - 4 7/3 at AUG/6:35 pm LHP Rylan Kaufman (1-2, 5.17 ERA) vs RHP Joey Estes (0-3, 2.85 ERA) ERA: Marquez - 1.59 7/4 at AUG/6:35 pm RHP Adrian Alcantara vs LHP Jake McSteen (2-0, 3.26 ERA) Strikeouts: Marquez - 45 7/5 OFF DAY Saves: Pennington - 3 TONIGHT'S STARTING PITCHER 33 | Cruz Noriega | RHP Height: 6-1 Weight: 175 DOB: October 1, 1997 Birthplace: Porlamar, VZ Acquired: Signed as an International Free Agent January 30, 2018 Drafted: N/A 2021: 3-1/9G/3GS/4.88 ERA/31.1 IP/38K/8BB/5HR/.242 2019: 3-3/13 G/5 GS/5.11 ERA/44.0 IP/37 K/17 BB/2 HR/.313 Career Stats (2 Seasons): 8-8/36 G/11 GS/4.76 ERA/107.2 IP/105 K/33 BB/6 HR/.277 AVG 2021: Placed on the Columbia Fireflies 2021 Opening Day roster.... Tossed an immaculate inning in the fifth at Augusta 5/5... MiLB: Logged a 13-inning scoreless streak in three appearances from July 1-14, 2019 for the Burlington Royals. Over the stretch he had 10 strikeouts while allowing only nine hits. Transitioned into a starting role in 2019 after going 3-for-3 in save opportunities in the DSL in 2018. Personal: Participated in zoom calls with high school students taking Spanish at Liberty High School in Missouri during the pandemic. He would have conversations with the students to help them learn the language from an authentic speaker. The Columbia Collection 4SFB CHANGE SINKER CURVE 2021 DAY-BY-DAY STATISTICS DATE OPP. DEC. IP H R ER HR K BB Notes 5/5 @ AUG ND 3 3 3 2 1 6 0 Threw Immaculate inning in the 5th 5/9 @ AUG ND 3 3 4 4 0 3 3 5/15 CSC ND 3.1 3 2 2 0 5 2 5/21 @ KAN L (0-1) 4.0 5 4 4 3 3 0 Allowed Fireflies-most three homers in a single game 5/28 AUG W (1-1) 3.0 5 3 3 0 5 1 6/3 @ MB S (1) 4.0 3 2 0 0 3 1 Earned first save of season 6/9 @ CSC W (2-1) 4.0 3 0 0 0 6 1 Tied-season high six strikeouts 6/16 AUG ND 4.0 5 2 2 1 4 0 Snapped 9.2 inning scoreless streak in 2nd 6/25 MB W (3-1) 3.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Three perfect innings is longest stretch this season 2021 Fireflies Highs: CG: IP: K: BB: H: R: ER: Win Streak: Losing Streak: 0 4.0 6 3 5 4 4 0 0 Career Highs: CG: IP: K: BB: H: R: ER: Win Streak: Losing Streak: 0 5.0 6 3 9 6 5 2 3 CAREER VS.