Blowfish Somehow Win, Despite 6 Errors

Florence catcher David Masters confronts home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz after getting ejected in the eighth.

COLUMBIA - They said it was guaranteed.

The Columbia Blowfish scored six unanswered runs to rally from a two-run deficit and shock the Florence Red Wolves 7-5 Monday on Guaranteed Win Night at Capital City Stadium.

It was a wild and ugly game, with two ejections and nine combined errors between the two teams. The six on Columbia was a season-high.

Columbia broke a scoreless tie in the second after a John Long (Liberty) single moved Jeff Jefferson (Liberty) to third. Later in the inning, Matt Williams (Liberty) singled to score Jefferson and give Columbia a 1-0 lead.

Florence took the lead in the third. David Masters (Kansas St) led off with a hard shot to the left side of the infield. Williams made a great save to keep the ball in the infield, but threw wildly to first. The ball bounced up into the stands and Masters moved to second.

Tyler Burnett (Middle Tennessee St) followed with a hard shot to third base. Columbia's Catlin Cater (UNC-Asheville) battled the sun and missed the ball completely, allowing Burnett to reach second and Masters to score. Steven Neff (South Carolina) followed with an RBI groundout, scoring Burnett to make it 2-1 Florence.

The Red Wolves added another run in the fifth. Burnett singled, then moved to second on a groundout by Barrett Kleinknecht (Francis Marion). Neff doubled to pick up his second RBI of the night, scoring Burnett to give Florence a 3-1 advantage.

Then the momentum shifted dramatically in the sixth and seventh.

"I just told them that they looked like they were playing with their head down," said Columbia coach Lee Gronkiewicz, "I said, 'You need to be a little more aggressive, walk around with some swagger, and look like you're a winner.'"

The team apparently took the motivation to heart. Branfry Arias (Tusculum) singled to start the sixth and moved to second after Burnett misplayed a grounder to short by Matt Leeds (College of Charleston). Derek Smith later entered as a pinch hitter and proceeded to make an impact with an RBI double to right center field, scoring Arias to close the gap, 3-2.

Then the craziness really started. Tyler McBride (Winthrop) singled for Columbia to begin the seventh. Williams followed with a grounder to third that went off the glove of Florence's Patrick Dolan (Charleston Southern) and into left field. McBride advanced to third on the play and Williams moved to second. Scott Wingo (South Carolina) followed with a suicide squeeze-he laid down a bunt as McBride broke for home.

McBride slid safely and Florence pitcher Cash Collins (Wofford) fired to first. However, no one was covering and the throw sailed into the Blowfish bullpen, moving Wingo to third and scoring Williams to give Columbia the lead.. Arias followed with a ground ball to shortstop. Burnett fired a throw to home, but Wingo beat the tag to give the Blowfish a 5-3 lead.

Scott Wingo scores on Arias's ground ball in the seventh

Columbia wasn't done, however, and neither was the absurdity. Shawn Glover (Erskine) and Long singled to start the eighth. Florence reliever Todd Miller (Notre Dame) then balked, moving Glover and Long up a base. Glover later came home to score on a wild pitch. McBride then hit a slow ground ball to second baseman Herman Petzold (Notre Dame), who came up firing towards home plate. The throw was close, but Long squeezed between the legs of catcher David Masters.to extend Columbia's lead 7-3. Masters was then ejected for arguing the call.

Florence made things interesting in the ninth. Blowfish closer Drew Mahaffey (Citadel) walked Zach Caldwell (Missouri Southern) and Richard Pirkle (GA College) with no outs. Coach Gronkiewicz wasted no time going to new reliever Robbie Wilcox, who gave up a single to Sam DiMatteo (California, Pa)to load the bases with no outs. Burnett then picked up an RBI on a groundout to make it a three-run game. Kleinknecht followed with a slow roller down the first base line. Wilcox moved to scoop up the ball, but accidentally kicked it towards the Blowfish dugout, scoring Pirkle. Wilcox quickly recovered the ball, however, and threw out Kleinknecht trying to advance to second.

With a runner on third and the tying run at the plate, the Blowfish made a final pitching change. Gabe Grammar (Presbyterian) did not disappoint, striking out Neff to end the game.

Brandon McCreery (Armstrong Atlantic 1-0) picked up his first win of the season afer pitching two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Collins (0-1) suffered a loss in his first outing of the year for Florence. Collins gave up five runs, three earned, on seven hits in seven innings, but did have seven strikeouts. Grammar picked up his first save of the season.

Erik Sommerville had another quality start for Columbia, giving up three runs, though only one earned, on seven hits in six innings.

Notes: The Blowfish have now won four of their last five against Florence... Master's ejection in the eighth led to some confusion. After Long slid in safely, Masters threw the ball down and began arguing with plate umpire Roberto Ortiz. McBride, meanwhile, ran all the way to third base as Masters was ejected. Florence reliever Todd Miller threw towards third, but threw wildly off-line, allowing McBride to score. However, the umpires conferred and ruled that the ball was dead once Masters was ejected, moving McBride back to first... Columbia pitching coach Matt Williams was ejected for arguing about a close play at first on a single by Florence's Taylor Lewis... Columbia will enjoy an off-day Tuesday before returning to Capital City Stadium Wednesday night to take on the Red Wolves again. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm. It will be the final Wet Wednesday of the season and all drinks will be only $1.