Blowfish Snap Skid with win over Florence

COLUMBIA SC - After being rained-out last night in Martinsville, the Columbia Blowfish (13-23) bats made sure the weather was not going to affect the outcome of this game.

The Blowfish bats broke out in a big way as they defeated the Florence Redwovles (24-12) 10-6 at Capital City Stadium with an offensive showing the featured a hit from all but one starter, and an RBI for every Blowfish hitter on Saturday night as the rain began to fall immediately after game's end.

"This is the team I envisioned when I put them together," said Head Coach Lee Gronkiewicz after the game. "It stinks that it took this long for it to show, but the speed, hitting, low strike out totals? These are the kind of guys I brought in here."

Columbia got started early in an unusual fashion for this team: walks. With one out in the bottom of the first, Nick Orvin (Citadel) and Chase Vergason (Florida Atlantic) were issues back-to-back free passes. A double steal by the two put them on second and third with one out, and Brison Celek (South Carolina) at the plate. Celek, Columbia's most consistent hitter over the past few weeks, lofted a ball deep into centerfield that easily scored Orvin for the game's first run. David Greene (Citadel) followed with the first of his three hits on the evening by launching a double that plated Vergason and put his team ahead 2-0.

The Fish added another run in both the second and the fourth. In the second, it was Ryan McCormick (Millersville) who drove home Shawn Glover (Erskine). In the fourth, Glover reached on an error by Florence first baseman Ryan Durrence (Bethune-Cookman), and the hit and run was on. Nick Abrahamson (Virginia Commonwealth) hit a ball sharply to shortstop Stephen Carmon (South Carolina-Aiken), but his only play was at first as Glover slid in to second safely. That brought up left fielder Ryan McCormick (Millersville), who grounded a ball to the left side. Carmon bobbled the ball, and his throw to third was not in time to get the speedy Glover, as everyone was safe on the play. With runners on the corner, Branfy Arias (Tusculum) launched a ball to deep right field that scored Glover to put the Fish went ahead 4-0.

After the Redwolves added a tally in the top of the fifth, thanks to Mac Doyle's (Wofford) RBI double, the Blowfish responded with three more in the home half of the inning, thanks to a throwing error on a Taylor Black (Kentucky) sacrifice bunt attempt that loaded the bases with one out. Glover then drove in two more with a double to bring up Abrahamson. Abrahamson brought home Glover and Greene with an RBI single that put his team 7-1 at that point.

That was more than enough for starter John Long (East Tennessee State, 2-2), who took a no-hit bid into the fifth inning before Herman Petzold (Notre Dame) singled to break it up. He lasted six on the evening, striking out two and walking two.

"He was excellent because he established the fastball low in the zone, then worked in his off-speed pitch very well," said Coach Gronkiewicz. "I thought John was excellent tonight."

After Columbia put up three more runs to make the score 10-2, Florence put four of their own on the board in the eighth inning courtesy of a bases-loaded ground-rule double off the bat of Ronnie Freeman (Kennesaw State) which scored two and a two run single by left fielder Will Fontnow (Northwood) to bring the score to 10-6, but reliever Ryan Gunther (Elon) came in and retired the final out before yielding to Derrick Smith (Erskine), who pitched a scoreless ninth to secure the victory.

NOTES: Columbia stole 7 bases on the evening, to push their league-leading total to 114. They are 30 steals away from the all-time record by a team in a single-season. When asked about it, Coach Gronkiewicz said: "We'll pass that up in two weeks."... Arias stole two bases, moving him to within six of tying the career stolen bases recorded. Coach Gronkiewicz remarked that Arias has "the green light", and he can get that mark on his own... The Fish struck out just twice on the night, a season-low for them... The Blowfish travel to Morehead City tomorrow before returning home to take on the Wilmington Sharks Monday at 7:05. It is Guaranteed Win Night, meaning all fans in attendance with receive a free general admission ticket to the next home game if the Blowfish do not win. All college students will be admitted free with student ID.