Gonzalez pitches Fireflies to sweep of GreenJackets
Merandy Gonzalez and the Columbia Fireflies continue to have the Augusta GreenJackets’ number.
Gonzalez struck out a career-high 10 as Columbia finished a three-game sweep of Augusta, 4-3, on Wednesday at Spirit Communications Park.
Columbia (27-23) is 9-2 against Augusta this season and has won all seven at home. It was the second series sweep over the GreenJackets
“They definitely play well against Augusta. There is something about them,” Columbia manager Jose Leger said. “They have a good team, but they have some young guys and make some mistakes and we take advantage of them. We definitely play good baseball against them.”
Gonzalez improved to 3-0 against the GreenJackets but Wednesday’s win didn’t come easy for the 21-year-old right hander.
Gonzalez, who didn’t allow an earned run in his two previous starts against Augusta, allowed two earned runs on nine hits in six innings to move to 7-1 on the season. He worked out of a couple jams as the GreenJackets stranded eight men in the first six innings.
“If you look at the box score, you would think he had a good game, but I know he is better than that,” Leger said of Gonzalez. “He was erratic with his fastball ... and left some breaking balls up in the zone. But every time he found trouble, he found a way to get out of it.”
Adam Atkins, Joseph Zanghi and Max Kuhns pitched the final three innings for Columbia. Kuhn picked up his third save in his last four appearances and hasn’t allowed a run in his last 10 appearances.
Former South Carolina standout Gene Cone was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Luis Carpio also drove in a run for Columbia, which scored in three of the first four innings to take a 4-1 lead.
Tim Tebow was 1-for-4 with an infield single in the second and a run scored. The former Florida quarterback is hitting .216 on the year.
Jose Vizcaino Jr. was 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead Augusta. Vizcaino’s RBI single cut Columbia’s lead to 4-3 in the seventh but Zanghi and Kuhns didn’t allow a hit over the final two innings.
Columbia heads to Hagerstown for a four-game road trip beginning Thursday.
Augusta | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Fargas cf | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Fabian rf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Beltre 2b | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Vizcaino 1b | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Heyward lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Bernal ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Fulmer dh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Bowers c | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Paulino 3b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
TOTALS | 37 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 14 |
Columbia | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Cone rf | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Gimenez ss | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Paez dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Winningham 1b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Carpio 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Sanchez c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lindsay cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Tebow lf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Gamache 3b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 33 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Augusta | 010 | 010 | 100 | — | 3 |
Columbia | 210 | 100 | 00x | — | 4 |
E — Vizcaino; Paulino; Fargas. LOB — Augusta 9; Columbia 7. 2B — Paulino; Paez. 3B — Paulino; Vizcaino. SH — Bowers.
Augusta | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Adon L, 0-5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Morel | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Cabrera | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Columbia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Gonzalez W, 7-1 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
Atkins | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Zanghi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Kuhns S, 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
WP — Adon; Gonzalez; Atkins. HBP — Gimenez (by Adon). Umpires — HP: Mark Stewart. 1B: Matthew Brown. T — 2:55. A — 3,947.
This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Gonzalez pitches Fireflies to sweep of GreenJackets."