Erie Caps Wild Win with Seven-Run Tenth

A seven-run 10th inning turned a back-and-forth game into a blowout as Erie beat Richmond for the second straight game, 10-3.

Richmond got an early lead against Erie starter Brant Hurter, who entered with the second-best earned run average in the Eastern League at 1.99, when Marco Luciano hit a first-inning home run.

Richmond starter Landen Roupp struck out a string of five straight Erie batters between the second and third inning. With two out in the third, Colt Keith singled, stole second base, and scored on Wenceel Perez’s run-scoring double.

The Squirrels went back ahead on Carter Aldrete’s RBI single in the fourth. Hurter stranded two more in scoring position with consecutive strikeouts. He had a season-high nine strikeouts over a season-high six innings in a no-decision.

Erie took their first lead of the game when Perez again doubled, this time scoring two in the fifth. Perez was thrown out advancing to third.

Hurter allowed his second home run of the game to Vaun Brown leading off the sixth inning after a nine-pitch battle. That tied the game at 3-3. The game would remain that score into extra innings thanks to clutch bullpen work by RJ Petit and Andrew Magno. The pair stranded runners in scoring position in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings after Richmond hit doubles in each frame. Magno (2-1) worked the eighth and ninth to earn the relief win.

Erie exploded in the 10th inning with seven runs. The first scored on an error by Richmond second baseman Jimmy Glowenke on a ball hit by Keith, scoring the free runner, Diego Rincones, from third after a wild pitch had advanced him. After Perez notched his third hit of the game, Dillon Dingler singled home Keith to make it 5-3. Next, Jake Holton walked to load the bases. Andrew Navigato followed with a three-run triple into the right field corner to make it 8-3. Julio Rodriguez scored him with a sacrifice fly. After Ben Malgeri walked, Rincones doubled him home against new pitcher Matt Frisbee to score the seventh run of the inning. Only three of the seven runs were earned and all were charged to left-hander Raymond Burgos (2-2), who took the loss.

In addition to April 13 against Altoona, this is the second time this season that Erie has scored seven runs in a 10th inning this season. They scored double-digit runs for the fourth time in five games and have scored 50 total runs in that five-game span. Erie finished May with an 18-8 record in the month after going 8-13 in April.

The SeaWolves will try to make it three straight wins to start the series with Keider Montoro pitching against left-hander Nick Zwack. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m.