COLUMBIA (Interstat) — The Columbia Fireflies erupted for five runs in the first inning and never looked back, defeating the Hickory Crawdads 8-2 on Wednesday night at Spirit Communications Park.

Roni Cabrera’s grand slam in the bottom of the first inning highlighted a five-run outburst that gave Columbia a lead it would not relinquish. The Fireflies improved to 17-18, while Hickory dropped to 17-16. The game drew an announced attendance of 2,012 and lasted 2 hours, 27 minutes.

Columbia sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning. After a walk to Yandel Ricardo and a single by Josh Hammond, Brooks Bryan also walked to load the bases. A walk to JC Vanek forced in the first run, and Cabrera followed with his second home run of the season, a drive to left-center field that cleared the bases. The grand slam gave the Fireflies a 5-0 lead.

The Fireflies added single runs in each of the next three innings. In the second, Ricardo singled and scored on a triple by Hammond. In the third, Vanek led off with a solo home run, his fourth of the year. In the fourth, Ricardo doubled and later scored on a single by Bryan, making it 8-0.

Hickory’s only runs came in the fifth and ninth innings. In the fifth, Paulino Santana doubled and scored on a groundout by Esteban Mejia. In the ninth, Santana tripled to drive in Angel Arredondo, who had walked. Santana finished 3 for 5 with a double, triple and one RBI.

Columbia’s pitching duo of Darwin Rodriguez and Michael Lombardi combined to hold the Crawdads to seven hits. Rodriguez started and allowed one earned run on four hits over 4 1/3 innings, striking out four. Lombardi earned the win, his second of the campaign, by working four innings of relief, giving up one earned run on three hits while striking out eight. He improved to 2-1.

Jesus Lafalaise took the loss for Hickory, falling to 0-3. He allowed seven runs, all earned, on six hits in four innings, walking five and striking out three. Reliever Aneudis Mejia tossed three innings of two-run ball, and Owen Proksch struck out four in two scoreless frames.

For Columbia, Cabrera drove in four runs on a 1-for-4 night that included the grand slam. Vanek had a home run and two RBIs. Hammond went 2 for 4 with a triple and an RBI, and Ricardo collected two hits, including a double, and scored three times.

Hickory’s Santana provided the Crawdads’ only extra-base hits. Yolfran Castillo singled and scored once. Daniel Flames and Josh Springer each had a single.

The Fireflies have now won the first two games of this six-game series, following a 10-6 victory on Tuesday. Hickory returns to Spirit Communications Park for the third game Thursday night.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Columbia 3, Hickory 2. Interstat’s ELO system gave Columbia a 51.70 percent probability to win.