Columbia Drops See Saw Battle with Marlins

COLUMBIA SC - Just when it seemed the Columbia Blowfish are on a roll, things have turned around again.

The Blowfish (2-10, 14-26) lost their second straight game at Capital City Stadium when they fell 5-3 to the Morehead City Marlins (7-3, 22-16) Wednesday night.

The game started off like so many have at the Cap this year: the visiting team scoring the game's first run in the top of the first. Blowfish starter Tyler Webb (South Carolina, 0-1) started the game by issuing a lead-off walk to Justyn Carter (St. Peter's). Luke Smierciak (Florida Gulf Coast) then followed by laying down a bunt. His butn was a beauty of a bunt down the first base line, and was able to beat Webb's throw to first base with an infield single that put two on and no outs. It was another bunt that cost the Blowfish the run. Joe Sclafini (Dartmouth) laid down a sacrifice bunt in front of the plate that both cather Nick Abrahamson (Virginia Commonwealth) and Webb went out to retrieve. The runners advanced 90 feet on the play, but Carter was not satisfied. He rounded third as both Abrahamson and Webb were caught sleeping halfway between the mound and the plate, and Carter slid in safely by the time Abrahamson could recover and apply to the tag on the return throw from first. That play put the Marlins ahead 1-0.

Columbia promptly responded in the home half of the inning though. Not to be outdone by his counterpart, leadoff hitter Matt Williams (Liberty) drew a walk as well. Nick Orvin (Citadel) then promptly laced a double just inside the right field line, and he was into second safely with a stand-up double. Chase Vergason (Florida Atlantic) followed by rolling a ball to the right side, and was retired 4-3 on the groundout, but picked up an RBI as Williams alertly scored on the play. With the right-handed Brison Celek (South Carolina) at the plate, Orvin caught Marlins starter Rodney Quintero (Chipola JC, 1-0) working from the wind-off and attempted to steal home. He was barely tagged out in time by Corey Bass (North Florida) to perserve the 1-1 tie.

The Marlins retook the lead in the top of the second, this one courtesy of a throwing error by the pitcher Webb and an RBI single to center off the bat of Preston Shuey (Francis Marion). After that though, Webb settled it. It took him a mere 15 pitches to work through the third, fourth and fifth inning because several outs recorded were first pitch outs. Webb also retired 10 straight through that stretch as well, which included the last out in the second inning. He worked seven innings on the night, allowing 8 hits and four runs (2 ER). He walked four, but countered that with four strikeouts.

"He pitched very well. He gave us a chance to win tonight," Head Coach Lee Gronkiewicz said after the game when asked about how much it helped to have his starter work seven solid innings. "He was on a pitch count of about 80 or 90, and he reached 79 at the end of the 7th. He was very efficient."

Columbia battled back for their starter and tied it up in the bottom of the sixth. Orvin lead off the inning with an infield single. After Celek singled with one out for his second hit of the night, Quintero was called for one of his three balks on the evening to move the runners up a base each. With two in scoring position, Taylor Black (Kentucky) launched a single into left field that scored Orvin. The ball was hit too hard to score Celek as it quickly got to the left fielder Matt Ciraco (LeMoyne), who fired a strong throw to the plate, forcing Celek to hold at third.That throw proved to be crucial for Columbia, because David Greene (Citadel) hit the ball sharply in the next at-bat, but it was right at Chris Taylor (Virginia), who flipped over to second to end the inning and hold the score at 2 each.

Morehead City took the lead for good in the next half inning. The inning started off with Webb striking out the first two batters, swinging and looking respectively, and it seemed like he was going to cruise through the inning. But Carter came up with an infield single, and Smierciak followed with one of his own to put runners on first and second with two outs. Webb then issued back-to-back walks to Sclafini and Steve Marino (Stony Brook) that put the Marlins ahead 3-2. They added another run in the inning when Abrahamson allowed Smierciak to score on a passed ball.

After Columbia pulled within 1 with a tally in the seventh, Head Coach Jay Bergman turned to his bullpen to finish the game. Jeff Guthridge (Hofstra) pitched a scoreless eighth, and the Marlin offense added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Thomas Girdwood (Elon) did not need it though, as picked up his fourth save of the year by pitching a clean ninth inning.

NOTES: Columbia did not steal a base in the game for the first time in a week. The Blowfish were 0-3 on the night in stolen base attempts.Their season-total remains at 129, 15 behind the all-time record set by Peninsula in 2009... Quintero, who had not balked going into tonight's game, is now tied for the most balks in the CPL with three... The Fish left a man on third base four times in this game... The Blowfish travel to Wilmington tomorrow to take on the Sharks at 7:05. They return home to face off with the Fayetteville SwampDogs on Friday at 7:05. All fans in attendance will be entered for a chance to win two free Atlanta Braves tickets to their Aug. 17th home game against the Washington Nationals. All college students will be admitted free with student ID.