Erie Bullpen Holds Early Lead in One-Run Win

Erie held a late lead to beat Altoona on Sunday evening, 5-4.

Erie opened the scoring early against Anthony Solometo. With one out and a runner on, Jace Jung clobbered a two-run homer to give Erie the early lead. Later in the frame, Ben Malgeri extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a double. Chris Meyers singled him home to make it 3-0.

In the fourth, after Luis Santana hit a long double, Trei Cruz blasted his 13th home run of the season. It gave Erie a 5-0 lead.

Altoona got an unearned run against Lael Lockhart in the fifth inning. Carter Bins reached on an error by Trei Cruz to lead off the inning. He scored on a two-out double by Connor Scott.

Lockhart went five frames. He allowed two hits, one unearned run, two walks, and seven strikeouts.

Jake Higginbotham entered in the sixth and allowed consecutive hits to begin the frame. With one out and runners at the corners, Higginbotham appeared to pick off Matt Gorski from first base. Instead, he balked. It scored Tsung-Che Cheng from third to make it 5-2. Matt Frazier then blasted a two-run home run to make it 5-4.

Tyler Mattison, Blake Holub, and Andrew Magno then combined for 3.1 innings of hitless relief to hold the lead. Erie pitching struck out 13 in the win.

Lockhart (4-1) earned his second win of the series. He tossed 11 innings between two starts in the series, struck out 16, and did not allow an earned run. Solometo (2-4) took the loss. Magno secured his ninth save. Erie finished the week in Altoona with five wins in seven games.

Erie and Akron kick off a six-game series at Canal Park on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.