Meyers and Santana Lead Erie to Series Win

Erie clinched a series win with an 8-6 win over Akron on Sunday.

In the second inning, Erie opened the scoring against Doug Nikhazy. On a single and two walks, Erie loaded the bases with no outs. Mario Feliciano hit a sacrifice fly to start the scoring. Luis Santana then hit a two-run single to give Erie a 3-0 lead.

After Lael Lockhart delivered three scoreless innings to begin his day, he ran into trouble in the fourth. After a leadoff single, Korey Holland blasted a two-run homer to make it 3-2. Akron wound up with five straight hits to open the fourth inning including a two-run double by Gabriel Rodriguez which gave Akron a 4-3 lead. Lockhart prevented further damage by turning a double play on Connor Kokx’s bunt attempt after making a diving catch on the play.

In the fifth, Holland ended Lockhart’s day with his second two-run homer of the game. It extended Akron’s lead to 6-3. Lockhart lasted 4.2 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits while striking out eight.

Erie tied the game up on three unearned runs against Trey Benton. With a runner on third and two out, Feliciano reached on a fielding error by shortstop Milan Tolentino which plated the runner and made it 6-4. Santana followed with a two-run homer to tie the game up a six. Over the final three games of the series, Santana drove in 10 runs.

For the second straight day, Chris Meyers provided a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. His two-run home run against Bradley Hanner gave Erie an 8-6 lead.

On defense, Erie turned five double plays including a key bases-loaded double play behind Yaya Chentouf in the eighth inning.

Jake Higginbotham (2-1) earned the win. Hanner (6-4) took the loss. Blake Holub secured his sixth save.

Erie begins a series against Bowie on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m.