Blowfish Flood Fayetteville with Offense

COLUMBIA SC - Sometimes when it rains, it pours.

For a Columbia Blowfish (3-10, 16-26) offense that had been in a drought lately, it poured runs at Capital City Stadium Friday night as the Blowfish pounded the Fayetteville SwampDogs (9-5, 21-22) 15-4. Every Blowfish who had an at-bat scored a run in the game with the exception of Shawn Glover (Erskine), who was left standing on second base in the eighth after a lead-off double. Shortstop Matt Williams (Liberty) paced the Blowfish offense by driving in seven runs on the evening for the Blowfish, highlighted by a three-run home run over the left field fence.

"No, I don't think I've ever had a night like this before," said Williams after the game. When asked about his first career CPL homerun, he chuckled and replied: "Well, I thought it was going to be a double off the top of the wall. I guess I just got lucky that it didn't go three feet to the left."

The scoring got started when Columbia added a single tally in the bottom of the third, in what looked like a pitching duel between Blowfish starter Stew Brase (Charleston Southern) and his counterpart Jordan Lindebaum (Chico State). Max McEleny (San Diego) hit a single with one out in the inning for Columbia's first base runner of the game. He moved up to third base on a single off the bat of Nick Orvin (Citadel), then scored for the first of Williams' seven RBIs when Williams singled.

From there, the offensive flood gates burst off the hinges, and the deluge was on. The inning started innocently enough, with a single by Brison Celek (South Carolina), then two consecutive outs. Bryan Hill (Union) then hit a grounder that escaped a shifted Fayetteville defense to extend the inning. After that, McEleny walked to load the bases, then consecutive singles by Ryan McCormick (Millersville), Orvin and Williams brought home four runs to put Columbia ahead 5-0.

Fayetteville battled back in the top of the fifth, when they put four runs on the board to chase Brase. The 'Dogs loaded the bases with no outs, then Brase walked home a run to put their first mark on the scoreboard. From there, a sacrifice fly plated another run before Brase was lifted.

"I kind of created that mess for myself," Brase said in a post-game interview. "I can't give out those walks there."

Patrick Sullivan (South Carolina, 1-1) came on and relieved Brase, and after allowing a two run single to bring the score to 6-4, Sullivan got DH Brandon Padula (Maryland) to ground into a fielder's choice that ended the inning.

The Blowfish responded immediately though, and in a huge manner with a six spot in the home half of the sixth. Celek singled to lead off the inning, and David Greene (Citadel) was hit by a pitch. After a Glover sacrifice, Hill drew a full-count walk to load the bases. McEleny reached base for the third time in the game with another walk that forced home a run, then McCormick followed with a two run singled. With his team in front 9-4, Williams stepped up to the plate and launched his big fly over the fence to put his team up by a 12-4 margin, and from there, the Fish cruised.

Chase Pickering (West Virignia), Ryan Gunther (Elon) pitched 1 and 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to get Columbia through eight innings. The bats were not done though, as they added three more runs in the bottom of the seventh to put the game to its final margin of 15-4. The runs came off a two run double by Williams and an RBI single by Branfy Arias (Tusculum). Randy Sturgill (California U of PA) came on and pitched a clean ninth to end the game for his team.

NOTES: Williams' homerun cleared a gate in right centerfield that is about 12 feet tall. The rest of the right field wall is 25 feet tall...Columbia stole 4 bases tonight. They are now at 136 on the season, just 8 away from the single season record for a team... Arias swiped his 30th base of the year, putting him just one stolen base away from tying record for most stolen bases in a CPL career... Columbia did not commit an error on the game. They are now 4-1 on the season when they do not commit an error... Columbia is still just 2-8 against Fayetteville on the season. They had not beaten the SwampDogs since June 14th... Columbia travels to the Swamp tomorrow to finish a home-and-home series with Fayetteville before heading to Florence Sunday. They will then return to the Cap after the All-Star Break to take on the Florence Redwolves. It will be Wet Wednesday at the Cap, with 1 dollar 12 oz beers and sodas. All college students will be admitted free with student ID.