Portland, Maine-Jake DePew hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning off of Mike Zagurski and the Sea Dogs (28-30) swept the Erie SeaWolves (29-31) with a 10-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field.
Portland, Maine-Jake DePew hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning off of Mike Zagurski and the Sea Dogs (28-30) swept the Erie SeaWolves (29-31) with a 10-7 win on Sunday afternoon at Hadlock Field.
The win was the fourth straight for Portland, while the sweep was the Sea Dogs' first of the SeaWolves at home since 2012.
Ruben Alaniz (2-2) walked Mike Olt to lead off the eighth, then was relieved by Zagurski. Cole Sturgeon struck out swinging, then DePew went yard. It was DePew's second home run of the season. Later in the inning with two outs, Danny Mars and Tzu-Wei Lin hit back-to-back singles, then Nick Longhi hit a two-run double off of Adam Ravenelle to extend the Portland lead to 10-7. The Sea Dogs sent nine men to the plate in the eighth and scored four runs on four hits.
Erie had taken a 7-6 lead in the top of the eighth with a sac fly by AJ Simcox off of Luis Ysla (1-3). Ysla allowed one run in two innings of relief, while Jake Drehoff allowed four in three innings. Spot-starter Taylor Grover (ND) went three innings to begin the game and allowed two runs on five hits and struck out five. Bobby Poyner earned his first Double-A save with a scoreless ninth.
Mars hit four hits for the second time this season. Longhi finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs.
For the first time in the series, the Sea Dogs scored first. Portland loaded the bases with nobody out in the second off of Tyler Alexander (ND). Cole Sturgeon grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to score a run, then DePew hit and RBI single to put Portland ahead 2-0.
Erie answered with two runs in the next half-inning. Harold Castro tripled with one out, then scored on a sac fly by Logan Watkins. Dominic Ficociello followed up with a single and Christin Stewart singled to score Ficociello and tie the game.
The SeaWolves took their first lead in the fourth with three runs off of Grover. With one out in the inning, Mike Gerber doubled, then Zach Cox singled him in to give Erie a 3-2 lead. Grayson Geriner followed up with a two-run homer to make it 5-2.
Portland got a run back on a solo homer by Mike Olt in the fourth, then Erie added a run in the fifth on an RBI double by Gabriel Quintana to make it 6-3.
The Sea Dogs rallied back to tie the game with a three-run fifth off of Alexander. A leadoff walk to Deiner Lopez started the inning, followed by a Danny Mars single. Lopez scored from second on a fielder's choice and error by second baseman Harold Castro to allow Mars to reach second base. Mars scored on a double by Longhi to cut the deficit to one, then Lin scored on a wild pitch by Alaniz to tie the game 6-6.
The Sea Dogs head west to begin a nine-game road trip on Tuesday night in Altoon against the Curve. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM. Pregame coverage begins live on the WPEI US Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network at 6:45 PM.
