Quincy Nieporte's home run, dominant pitching give Erie SeaWolves historic playoff win

RICHMOND, Va. ― The Erie SeaWolves exorcised some demons on Thursday with a rare win at The Diamond to clinch their first playoff series win in organization history.

The 'Wolves now turn their attention to one of the most successful minor league systems from top to bottom to try and win their first Eastern League championship.

Somerset, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees, comes to UPMC Park on Saturday for the first game of the Eastern League championship series at 6:05 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for Sunday but was changed Friday morning because of a poor weather forecast for Sunday.

Games 2 and 3 are still scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Somerset, which swept Portland this week, will start No. 8 Yankees prospect Will Warren on Saturday and Erie will turn to No. 3 Tigers prospect Wilmer Flores. Both Warren and Flores were in High-A in April when Somerset took four of six games from Erie in New Jersey.

The remaining rotation for Games 2 and 3 are to be determined.

This was almost a matchup of possible league MVPs between Quincy Nieporte of Erie and Anthony Volpe of Somerset, but Volpe was recently promoted to Triple-A. The Patriots still have 10 of the top 30 Yankees prospects on the roster including Warren. Outfielder Jasson Dominguez is only 19 years old but is the No. 2 prospect for the Yankees, while catcher Austin Wells is No. 4, outfielder Everson Pereira is No. 5 and shortstop Trey Sweeney is No. 6. Dominguez is listed as the No. 40 overall prospect in baseball and Wells is No. 84.

Thursday's game: Securing a sweep

Quincy Nieporte blasted 31 home runs this season to build a case for Eastern League MVP.

On Thursday, Nieporte entered SeaWolves lore with one of the biggest swings in franchise history.

Nieporte jumped on a 1-2 pitch and deposited it over the left-field wall at The Diamond in Richmond to break a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning with a monumental three-run home run.

The bullpen did the rest and the SeaWolves won 6-2 over Richmond to sweep the best-of-three series and clinch the first playoff series win in organization history.

More:Erie SeaWolves dominate Richmond Flying Squirrels before record crowd in playoff opener

“We just needed to get in and let the chips fall where they may,” SeaWolves manager Gabe Alvarez said about the postseason. “We talked all year about putting ourselves in a good position to play meaningful games at the end of the season and we are battle-tested.”

The SeaWolves were in danger of missing the playoffs. All Bowie had to do Sunday was beat Akron to keep Erie out of the postseason; instead the Baysox lost 8-5 to Akron.

More: SeaWolves open playoffs in search of first series win in team history

Nieporte was certain it was a mistake by the rest of the league to permit the 'Wolves into the playoffs.

“Any team that plays us is facing a buzzsaw,” Nieporte said. “They let us in, and good luck, strap it up and get ready for nine tough innings of baseball.”

Nieporte's clutch home run had the same effect as Danny Serretti's on Tuesday at UPMC Park in Erie's 9-3 Game 1 win. It changed the mood in the dugout and let the 'Wolves relax.

“Quincy is the MVP of the league and without him we're not here right now,” Alvarez said. “He leads us on the field and leads us in the clubhouse. He keeps everything loose, and I hope he's not done playing baseball for a long time, but when he is he'll make one heck of a coach.”

More: At 27, this Erie SeaWolves player found a second chance at pro baseball. He's seized it.

Dominant Erie pitching

The SeaWolves have received strong starting pitching all year, but it was the bullpen that carried the day Thursday. After Ty Madden allowed two runs in two innings, starter Sawyer Gipson-Long and relievers Carlos Guzman, Adam Wolf and Brendan White combined to throw seven shutout innings. Gipson-Long lasted one inning as he took a line drive off his foot and came out of the game. Guzman earned his first playoff win with two scoreless innings before Wolf tossed three innings and White threw the ninth.

“What a great job, and we've had solid pitching all year,” Alvarez said. “Everyone pitched well, and what Wolfy did was spectacular.”

The Left-Field Line Gang: Erie SeaWolves relief pitchers form bond in UPMC Park bullpen

Making more history

In addition to getting the first playoff series win in organization history, the SeaWolves earned their first road playoff win and won back-to-back playoff games for the first time. The six runs scored tied for the most by the 'Wolves in a road playoff game.

Serretti hit a two-out single behind third base to drive in two runs. He finished with five RBIs in the series, which is second in team history behind Jeff Larish, who drove in eight runs over four games in the 2007 division series.

Nieporte's three-run home run is the third straight three-run homer in SeaWolves playoff history. Erie has 21 home runs, and there were no three-run shots among the first 18 homers. Since those 18 were hit, Tyler Collins had a three-run shot in 2013, Serretti hit one on Tuesday and Nieporte on Thursday.

“I swung a lot (Thursday) and missed a lot,” Nieporte joked. “He just threw one right into my spot and was able to get a barrel on it. Thank God I hit that, otherwise I would have struck out four times.”

The Erie effect

The SeaWolves are hoping for another big Erie crowd after a playoff record of 4,739 on Tuesday.

More: Late-game heroics send Somerset Patriots to Eastern League Championship Series

“The way Erie showed out for us on Tuesday, I think most of the guys by the second or third inning realized it was something special,” Nieporte said. “The whole city is behind us and we had a packed stadium appreciating our hard work. Once the guys saw that I think we were a little more ferocious in making sure we came back for another game Sunday.”

“We've wanted to make Erie proud from the beginning,” Alvarez said. “The fan support Tuesday was unbelievable and we can't wait to get in front of the crowd on Sunday.”

More: Alvarez uses experience, player-first approach to lead the SeaWolves in playoff race

Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNreisenweber.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie SeaWolves to face Somerset Patriots for Eastern League title