COLUMBIA FIREFLIES 2018 GAME NOTES Columbia Fireflies (11-6) vs. Charleston RiverDogs (7-10) Game 1: LHP David Peterson (1-0, 1.50) vs. RHP Rony Garcia (0-1, 5.06) Game 2: RHP Chris Viall (1-0, 2.00) vs. RHP Nick Nelson (0-1, 7.11) Tues., April 24, 2018 — Joseph P. Riley Park (Charleston, SC) — First Pitch 7:05 p.m. — Games 18 & 19 LISTEN: Fox Sports Radio 1400 AM / ColumbiaFireflies.com / iHeartRadio App GLOW POINTS NEWS & NOTES CONTENTS ABOUT LAST GAME: The Fireflies blanked the Crawdads, 5-0, on Sunday Pages 2: Today’s Starting Pitcher SAL South 1H Standing: 1st (+0.5) Page 3: Manager & Coaching Staff Home Record: 6-5 afternoon at Spirit Communications Park. It is the first shut-out victory of the Road Record: 5-1 season. Pages 4-6: Individual Hitting Notes Day Record: 1-1 • Anthony Kay was dominate in his third professional start. The southpaw Page 7: Extra Hitting Notes Night Record: 10-5 finished with five strikeouts and absorbed just three hits over six innings. Pages 8-9: Bullpen Notes Page 10: Miscellaneous Pitching Notes Homestand: 2-2 • The bottom four hitters in Columbia’s lineup accounted for six of the team’s Page 11: Season Highs and Lows Streak: W1 nine hits (Rigoberto Terrazas, Ali Sanchez, Raphael Gladu, and Scott Page 12: Transactions Manea). Sunday: 1-1 Page 13: Day-by-Day Results Monday: 2-0 Tuesday: 1-1 UMBRELLA: Monday’s game against Charleston was postponed due to rain. The vs. Charleston (0-0, 0-0 Away) Wednesday:2-0 Fireflies will play their first doubleheader of the season on Tuesday night April 23 Away PPD Thursday: 2-1 Friday: 2-1 April 24 Away 6:05 p.m. Saturday: 1-2 BASE MACHINES: Blake Tiberi and Jeremy Vasquez each walked three times on Sunday. April 24 Away Game 2 April: 11-6 • Vasquez: Leads the SAL in walks with 18. He’s also second in the league April 25 Away 7: 05 p.m. May: with a .472 on-base percentage. The Floridan has been on base in every June: July: game he’s played in this season (16) - the best streak for all Low-A hitters. April 26 Away 7: 05 p.m. August: • Tiberi: Tied for third in the SAL with 13 walks. The 23-year-old has reached May 17 Away 7: 05 p.m. September: base safely in all 11 home games. He is also third in the league with a .465 on-base percentage. May 18 Away 7: 05 p.m. Leading after six: 9-0 Tied after six: 1-0 May 19 Away 6: 05 p.m. Trailing after six: 1-6 TRIPLE THE FUN: Jeremy Vasquez tripled on Sunday, becoming the seventh May 20 Away 5: 05 p.m. Leading after seven: 8-0 different Firefly to accomplish this at least once this season. Columbia has 11 Tied after seven: 1-0 three-baggers this season. Here’s how that ranks across Minor League May 29 Away 7: 05 p.m. Trailing after seven: 2-6 Baseball… Leading after eight: 9-0 May 30 Away 11: 05 a.m. 1. Albuquerque (Triple A) - 14 Tied after eight: 1-0 May 31 Away 7:05 p.m. Trailing after eight: 1-6 2. Daytona (Adv-A) - 12 3. Columbia (Low-A) - 11 June 5 Home 7:05 p.m. Scoring first: 10-1 Opponents score first: 1-5 4. Salt Lake (Triple A) - 10 June 6 Home 7:05 p.m. Shutout Wins/Loses: 1-0 June 7 Home 7:05 p.m. MON-STARS: Columbia’s offense has been arguably the best in the league Fireflies starter less than 6 IP: 5-5 through the season’s first 17 games. Check out Columbia’s SAL rankings: July 7 Home 6:05 p.m. Fireflies starter 6+ IP: 6-1 Fireflies starter 7+ IP: 1-0 1st, Batting average - .277 1st, Walks - 81 July 8 Home 2:05 p.m. vs. LH starters: 3-1 2nd, Hits - 159 1st, OBP - .372 July 9 Home 7:05 p.m. vs. RH starters: 8-5 2nd, Runs - 91 1st, Triples - 11 August 27 Home 7:05 p.m. Scoring less than three: 0-3 Scoring three or four: 1-1 TIME CAPSULE: On this day in 2017, Jordan Humphreys set a franchise record August 28 Home 7:05 p.m. Scoring five or more: 10-2 for strikeouts in a game (12). This record still stands today, but was nearly broken August 29 Home 7:05 p.m. when Chris Viall fanned 11 batter on April 16, 2018. One-run games: 1-0 August 30 Home 7:05 p.m. Two-run games: 3-0 5+ run games: 5-3 PROSPECTS IN COLUMBIA Extra Innings: 1-0 ROSTER BREAKDOWN Walk-Off Wins: 0-0 Columbia’s 2018 roster is filled with plenty of skilled Mets farmhands: 19-year-olds: 1 23-year-olds: 7 Out-hitting opponent: 9-1 METS PROSPECTS (according to MLB.com & Baseball America) 20-year-olds: 0 24-year-olds: 1 Being out-hit: 1-5 2. LHP, David Peterson (1st Round, ‘17) 22. OF, Quinn Brodey 21-year-olds: 4 25-year-olds: 1 Same number of hits: 1-0 14. LHP, Anthony Kay (1st Round, ‘16) 27. C, Ali Sanchez 22-year-olds: 11 Series W-L-T (Home): 1-0-2 METS STERLING AWARD WINNERS Drafted, Signed out of HS: 1 Series W-L-T (Road): 2-0-0 Nicolas Debora, RHP (2017 Brooklyn Cyclones, 2015 DSL Mets) Drafted, Signed out of College: 15 Series W-L-T (Total): 3-0-2 Rigoberto Terrazas, INF (2017 Kingsport Mets) International Signings: 7 Undrafted Free Agent Signings: 2 Series Sweeps (Home): TOP 10-ROUND METS DRAFT PICKS: Series Sweeps (Road): 1 David Peterson (Oregon, 2017 - 1st round) Anthony Kay (UConn, 2016 - 1st), Quinn Series Sweeps (Total): 1 rd rd States (11) / Countries (5) Brodey (Stanford, 2017 – 3 ), Blake Tiberi (Louisville, 2016 – 3 ), Tony Dibrell Represented (16): CA, CO, GA, FL, (Kennesaw State, 2017 – 4th), Matt Winaker (Stanford, 2017 – 5th), Chris Viall (Stanford, White Jerseys: 1-4 th th KY, MA, NY, OK, PA, TX, UT, Gray Jerseys: 4-0 2016 – 6 ), Marcel Renteria (New Mexico State, 2017 – 6 ), Conner O’Neil (Cal. State th th Canada, Dominican Republic, Yellow Jerseys: 3-0 Northridge, 2017 – 7 ), Trey Cobb (Oklahoma State, 2017 – 8 ) Mexico, Venezuela Navy Jerseys: 3-2 #CONNECT WITH THE COLUMBIA FIREFLIES Specialty Jerseys: 0-0 Most of 2017 Season Spent In: Home crowds of 5,000+: 2 COLUMBIA (A) - 3 Home crowds of 6,000+: 1 Brooklyn (SS) - 12 Home crowds of 7,000+: Kingsport (Adv-R) - 7 /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 Wednesday, April 25 @ Charleston 7:05 p.m. RHP Tony Dibrell (0-1, 7.53) vs. LHP Dalton Lehnen (1-1, 2.55) Thursday, April 26 @ Charleston 7:05 p.m. RHP Joe Cavallaro (2-0, 1.42) Friday, April 27 @ Augusta 7:05 p.m. LHP Jake Simon (0-3, 3.38) Saturday, April 28 @ Augusta 6:05 p.m. LHP Anthony Kay (1-0, 1.69) Sunday, April 29 @ Augusta 2:05 p.m. Media Contact: Kevin Fitzgerald — [email protected] — 803-888-3040 (Office) — 908-745-9385 (Cell) FCORTOLUMBIA WAYNE FIREFLIES TINCAPS 2018 2014 G AMEGAME N OTESNOTES MERANDY TO THE MAJORS Merandy Gonzalez Becomes First Former Firefly to Reach the Major Leagues COLUMBIA, S.C. — Right-handed pitcher Merandy Gonzalez, a 2017 South Atlantic League All-Star, became the first former Firefly to appear in a Major League Baseball game. The 22-year-old Marlins pitcher struck out All-Star Lorenzo Cain and tossed two scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Thursday night. Gonzalez, a New York Met farmhand from 2013-2017 was traded along with Ricardo Cespedes to Miami in exchange for All-Star reliever A.J. Ramos on July 28, 2017. "When I got the call, it was one of the more emotional moments of my career," Gonzalez told MLB.com Marlins reporter Joe Frisaro. "It's been five years since I've wanted to get the call and be up here. It was a great moment." The 14th-rated Marlins prospect was added to Miami’s roster on Thursday when reliever Chris O’Grady was placed on the disabled list. Gonzalez was called up from double-A Jacksonville after starting a pair of games for the Jumbo Shrimp. "One of the biggest things I was working on was controlling the inside part of the zone," Gonzalez explained to Frisaro in Milwaukee postgame. "If you can control that area, you really aren't giving the hitters much chance to have success. That as well as working on my breaking pitches." Gonzalez started for the Southern Division in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game last June after overwhelming the league in 11 starts. The Dominican Republic native posted an 8-1 record and 1.55 ERA while punching out 65 hitters (compared to just 13 walks) in 69.2 innings for Columbia. Gonzalez hurled a one-two-three top of the first inning of the All- Star Game at Spirit Communications Park on June 20, 2017. “It’s amazing to see our first former player reach the Major Leagues,” said Fireflies team President John Katz. “Merandy was baffling opposing hitters less than a year ago at Spirit Communications Park. It’s a great day for Merandy and the Fire- flies, and we’re anxiously anticipating our next player to make his MLB debut.” Perhaps the most dominant stretch of his minor league career took place during his time as a Firefly from April 9-May 3, 2017.