Asheville Battles But Loses Wild Day Game

The Asheville Tourists and the Columbia Fireflies combined to put up 20 runs on 31 hits Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately for the Tourists, eleven of those runs belonged to the visitors and Asheville had to settle for a series split by dropping the finale 11-9.

The Tourists battled all game. Entering the bottom of the seventh Asheville trailed 11-4 but rallied to make things interesting at the end. Asheville scored three runs in the seventh and added two more in the eighth.

They were able to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth but ultimately fell to Columbia. The reason for the big deficit was once again a big inning put up by an Asheville opponent. The Fireflies scored nearly half of their runs with a five-spot in the top of the sixth.

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Prior to the big frame the two teams were battling back and forth. Columbia scored first but Niko Decolati hit a two-run home run to give Asheville a 2-1 advantage. The Fireflies rallied to recapture the lead 4-2; however, Terrin Vavra turned the tide when he drove in Javier Guevara with a single in the bottom of the fifth.

Kyle Datres hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-4 but the Fireflies plated two more in the top of the seventh which ended up being the difference in the game.

Guevara paced the Tourists with a season-high four hits. Decolati and Grant Lavigne each finished the game with three runs batted in. Colton Harlow pitched well down the stretch with two shutout innings out of the Tourists bullpen.

Visit www.milb.com/asheville to view the Tourists’ schedule and to purchase tickets to upcoming games.

Written by Doug Maurer / Asheville Tourists.