Fayetteville's Eric Grabe dives back to first as Columbia's Jim Rider awaits the throw.
FAYETTEVILLE - The Columbia Blowfish found themselves down by five runs after four innings against the Fayetteville Swampdogs Wednesday night at JP Riddle Stadium in Fayetteville.
When the dust cleared five innings later, the Blowfish had scored fifteen unanswered runs to stun Fayetteville 18-8 and get head coach Lee Gronkiewicz his first win at the helm of Columbia.
The game featured an astounding amount of offense. The two teams combined for 26 runs, 32 hits, and 49 baserunners. It was the first win for the Blowfish in the month of July.
The slugfest started early, with six combined runs in the first inning between the two teams. Matt Williams (Liberty) got things started for the Blowfish with a lead-off single. Scott Wingo (South Carolina) then walked and Williams moved to third on Branfry Arias's (Tusculum) flyout to right field. Following a Chipper Smith (College of the Canyons) pitch to Jim Rider (Kent St), Williams broke for home on the return throw, sliding in safely for the game's first run. Rider then singled up the middle to score Wingo, giving Columbia a 2-0 lead.
The Swampdogs answered right away, however. Matt Skirving (Eastern Michigan) hit an RBI groundout to first base, scoring Eric Grabe (Daytona St). Tanner Biagini (VMI) followed with a base hit to score Michael Niemann (Delta St), tying the game. Matt Kole (Austin Peay) then doubled home Biagini and later came around himself on Brock Whiteman's (Muskingum) single to make it 4-2 Fayetteville.
The Blowfish added another in the second, as did the Swampdogs. Wingo hit a slow ground ball towards the right side of the infield. First baseman Airlon Vinson (Mt Olive) made an errant throw to first, allowing Tyler McBride (Winthrop) to score from second, closing the gap, 4-3. However, Brendan Rowland (Albany) hit a sacrifice fly to center in the bottom half of the inning, scoring Austin Lasprilla (Angelo St) to extend Fayetteville's lead, 5-3.
Whiteman hit a two-run home run to left field in the third inning, scoring Kole, and ending the night of Columbia starter Erik Sommerville (Francis Marion). Grabe later tripled to score Vinson to make it 8-3 Swampdogs.
It looked as if the Swampdogs would cruise to an easy victory, but the Blowfish had other plans. Columbia crept back into the game with a three-run fifth inning. With Wingo on first and no outs, Arias hit a line drive into right field. Rowland fielded the ball and attempted to throw Wingo out at third base, but his throw sailed high to the fence. Wingo trotted home and Arias advanced to third on the error. After Jeff Jefferson (Liberty) was hit by a pitch, Smith tried to pick him off first base. The throw was wide, allowing Jefferson to move up to second and Arias to score. Jim Rider then drove home Jefferson with an RBI single to cut the lead 8-6.
The Blowfish stormed ahead in the sixth with seven runs. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Arias hit an RBI single to score McBride and Fayetteville pitcher Brian Willis (UNC Pembroke) walked John Long (Liberty) to bring in Williams as the tying run. Things fell apart for the Swampdogs after that. Trent Still (Anderson) cleared the bases with a double and Shawn Glover (Erskine) followed with a two-bagger of his own to score Still. Catlin Carter (UNC-Asheville) then plated Glover to give Columbia a stunning 13-8 advantage.
The Blowfish added five more in the ninth. Arias hit a two-run double to score McBride and Williams with no outs and John Long followed with his second home run of the season, a three-run bomb off the left field foul pole, to give Columbia an 18-8 lead.
Robbie Wilcox (Brown 1-1) picked up his first win of the season after salvaging Sommerville's start, giving up one run on six hits spread out over 3.2 innings. Willis (0-1) suffered the loss after surrendering seven runs on five hits and two walks in over an inning pitched.
Sommerville was knocked around in his fourth start, giving up seven runs on eight hits in only 2.1 innings. Smith lasted just four innings, and was tagged for six runs, five earned, on six hits in the no-decision.
Notes: The 18 runs were a season high for Columbia, while the 17 hits was the most since June 10... The win snapped a nine-game losing streak for the Blowfish against the Swampdogs... First base coach Adam Brown was ejected in the sixth inning for standing outside of the batter's box... Columbia returns home to take on the Florence Red Wolves Thursday night at Capital City Stadium. First pitch will be at 7:05 pm.
