Game 20 Recap: Keeping It Going

For only the second time ever, Spirit Communications Park had a game but I wasn't there. One of my biggest sports-related hobbies is going to see stadiums I haven't seen before. That is why it was special for me that my 500th stadium visit happened to be at the first professional baseball game within 40 miles of my hometown in 12 years. But that's now been done, so I visited a college park not seen before in Division II Armstrong State. Ironically that meant going to the city that the Fireflies abandoned the year before. And as a result, I could not pair up the Armstrong game with a minor league game. But the opening of Spirit Communications Park and the birth of the Fireflies means that I will see Minor League Baseball more routinely, especially in the summer.

So it was up to the Fireflies to keep it going. And the Fireflies first got going by David Thompson driving in Vinny Siena, adding to both Thompson's impressive RBI total and Siena's impressive total in runs scored. P.J. Conlon, probably the best pitcher early on for the Fireflies, was pretty effective as well for the most part again. But the Legends did get some hits off him, and tied the game after Cody Jones tripled to start the 3rd. But while Conlon allowed 7 hits in 7 innings, he kept his control throughout and struck out 7 as well to avoid anymore trouble.

While Emilio Ogando has been Lexington's most effective starter this season, he could not handle Siena and Thompson who again teamed up for a run to give the Fireflies a 2-1 lead in the 6th. Thompson would then score after two bad plays by Legends catcher Chase Vallot to make it 3-1. The Fireflies then got to the easy part of the game when they touched up Julio Pinto for 4 runs in two innings, which meant an uncharacteristically shaky Tyler Bashlor and Johnny Magliozzi had no problem closing out a 7-2 win.

The only negative to comment on is that the crowd was just 2,033. I know that I wasn't there, in part because it's not summer yet and there is still college baseball going (the Gamecocks weren't playing though like they will be this weekend). There have been a number of low attendances throughout the SAL as well. But it seems like the Fireflies will struggle in their first season to finish in the top half of the SAL in attendance which is not good. My concern is that some of the public (especially those in the suburbs) does not like Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin and feels that his project with the Bull Street Property has been wasteful. But the Fireflies are something this area desperately needs in the summer when USC isn't going. Hopefully things will pan out once that is realized in the summer by more in the Midlands.

So here's the updated all-time player standings. It's looking clear that Siena and Thompson are the two big bats on this team with P.J. Conlon and Chase Ingram being the big arms on this team.

Player	Position	TB	R	RBI	BB/HBP	SB	CS	0 for 1	SO	Outs	K	R	ER	H	BB/HBP	W	S	L	Score
P.J. Conlon	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	71	18	3	3	24	2	3	0	0	343
David Thompson	3B	36	18	23	10	1	0	49	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	309
Vinny Siena	2B	32	20	8	21	1	0	38	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	281
Chase Ingram	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	66	28	8	6	21	5	2	0	1	279
Joe Shaw	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	48	21	5	5	16	3	2	0	1	209
Seth Davis	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	37	12	3	3	7	7	1	1	0	195
Tyler Bashlor	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	12	2	2	5	6	0	2	0	168
Ivan Wilson	CF	29	11	7	6	2	2	47	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	150
Johnny Magliozzi	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	24	6	4	4	8	2	1	2	0	142
Alex Palsha	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	28	18	6	5	6	6	1	1	1	141
Dash Winningham	1B	24	8	10	8	0	0	47	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	133
Tucker Tharp	RF	19	8	5	1	2	1	27	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	111
Kevin Canelon	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	19	7	7	14	7	0	0	1	106
J.C. Rodriguez	DH	17	6	9	7	3	0	49	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	101
Joe Tuschak	LF	22	6	9	4	0	1	40	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	101
Jeff Diehl	DH	18	7	8	10	0	0	39	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	99
Thomas McIlraith	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	42	9	9	8	11	10	1	0	1	87
Tyler Badamo	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	53	10	10	10	23	3	1	0	1	86
Nicco Blank	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	4	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	66
Kevin Kaczmarski	RF	14	10	3	7	0	2	41	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	52
Milton Ramos	SS	13	5	8	5	0	0	40	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	51
Christian Montgomery	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	12	9	6	8	7	0	0	0	50
Vicente Lupo	LF	7	4	2	4	0	0	12	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	45
Craig Missigman	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	31	13	8	8	10	9	0	0	0	37
Jose Garcia	C	4	2	1	3	0	0	12	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
Natanael Ramos	C	4	1	1	2	0	0	10	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	13
Tyler Moore	C	8	6	2	3	0	1	34	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8
Witt Haggard	P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	3	3	3	3	0	0	2	-58

I'll be at tonight's game, unless the weather is threatening. Shame that the two worst days for weather this week are on series finale days, which would be harder to make up (at least at home).