SeaWolves win thriller on Sunday to set up final series at UPMC Park
The Erie SeaWolves beat Bowie Sunday in a thrilling 5-4 walk-off victory at UPMC Park to end their crucial series tied for first place in the Southwest Division with the Baysox.
The victory not only vaulted the SeaWolves back into first place, but also gave Erie the tiebreaker over Bowie. Both the 'Wolves and the Baysox are 36-21 in the second half, but Erie essentially has a one-game lead because of the tiebreaker.
There are 12 games left in the season with the winner of the second half in the Southwest Division taking on Richmond in the playoffs. The Flying Squirrels will have a big say in which team they play as Richmond travels to Bowie this week before playing host to Erie in the final week of the season.
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Playoff atmosphere
In front of 1,933 fans, the SeaWolves took a 3-0 lead behind run-scoring singles by Gage Workman and Parker Meadows in the fifth inning. Chance Kirby dominated on the mound for Erie until Cesar Prieto clubbed a three-run home run in the seventh inning to tie the game.
The tension continued to build in the seventh inning as Meadows beat out a double-play ball to bring in a run and give the SeaWolves a 4-3 lead. In the top of the eighth inning things boiled over for Bowie. Andrew Daschbach was hit in the head by a pitch and Bowie wanted an ejection after several players were hit this week. After some arguing, Bowie manager Kyle Moore was ejected as were players Maverick Handley and Justin Armbruester.
The Baysox collected themselves and tied the game in the ninth inning on a Coby Mayo home run. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Bryant Packard led off with a single before a Workman walk and a Meadows single loaded the bases. Quincy Nieporte lifted a sacrifice fly to end the game and give the 'Wolves their most important walk-off win of the season.
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Setting up this week
The SeaWolves play their final six regular-season home games this week when Altoona comes to UPMC Park. The Curve are in desperation mode at 30-26 and 5½ games back of the SeaWolves. Bowie hosts Richmond, the winner of the first half in the Southwest Division, while Akron travels to Harrisburg. The RubberDucks are 31-26 and are 5 games back.
The SeaWolves will have to deal with three Pirates prospect pitchers this week: No. 3 Quinn Priester, No. 17 Kyle Nicolas and No. 20 Carmen Mlodzinski.
The series starts Tuesday as Aaron Shortridge (1-4, 6.47 earned run average) takes the mound for the Curve against Sawyer Gipson-Long (2-1, 3.76) for the SeaWolves. It is the first of four games in a row set for 6:05 p.m. On Wednesday, Brant Hurter, the No. 22 prospect for Detroit, starts against a to-be-announced starter for Altoona. Hurter has allowed 12 runs in 5 innings over two starts since his promotion to Double-A.
The prospect showdowns start Thursday as Nicolas takes on Reese Olson (7-6, 4.34), the No. 9 prospect for the Tigers. Nicolas (1-4, 4.17) was a second-round pick by the Marlins out of Ball State in 2020 and was traded to the Pirates for Jacob Stallings.
On Friday, Priester (3-3, 2.37) will face Ty Madden (2-0, 2.33), the No. 4 prospect for the Tigers. Priester was drafted out of high school by the Pirates in 2019 as the 18th overall pick.
Friday is also the final night game of the year. The SeaWolves and Curve play at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday. Mlodzinski (4-8, 4.91) is scheduled to throw agains Wilmer Flores (5-3, 2.47), the No. 3 prospect for the Tigers. Mlodzinski was taken 31st overall in the 2020 draft out of South Carolina by the Pirates.
The series ends Sunday with the final regular-season game at UPMC Park at 1:35 p.m. with Chance Kirby (8-3, 2.62) pitching against Shortridge.
More: In long-delayed return to big-league booth, SeaWolves' Greg Gania calls Tigers twinbill
Records abound
There could be plenty of big announcements at UPMC Park this week.
The SeaWolves have 167 home runs, tied for the franchise record.
Olsen will also have reason to celebrate Thursday as his first strikeout would break the team record. Olsen tied Seth Etherton's record of 153 strikeouts in a season last week this week. Etherton recorded the mark for Erie in 1999.
Another record that is in a little trouble is the single-season home run record. Nieporte became the fourth player in franchise history to hit 30 home runs in a season on Saturday. He needs six more homers to break the record of 35 by Steven Moya set in 2014, the year Moya won the Eastern League MVP award.
Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNreisenweber.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie SeaWolves take lead in playoff race with walk-off win vs. Bowie
