Late Errors Send SeaWolves to a Loss

The Erie SeaWolves fell 5-4 in a heartbreaker against the Altoona Curve on Wednesday at People’s Natural Gas Field after a pair of errors in the eighth.

The Curve opened the scoring in the second. Matt Gorski tripled off Erie starter Markus Solbach after a misplay from center fielder Parker Meadows. Liover Peguero drove in Gorski on a single to make it a 1-0 game.

The SeaWolves took the lead in the third against Curve reliever Noe Toribio. Meadows reached on an error from the second baseman Andres Alvarez. Meadows advanced to second on a passed ball from Blake Sabol before Gage Workman plated him with a single to tie the game, 1-1. Workman then stole second, Andrew Navigato walked, and Dane Myers reached on a 5-4 fielder’s choice to set the stage for Kerry Carpenter. The Eastern League RBI leader cashed in on his 10th double of the season to bring home two runs and give the SeaWolves a 3-1 lead.

The Curve cut the deficit to one with a solo homer from Gorski in the sixth. Solbach worked around the homer to give Erie a quality start. He tossed six innings of two-run ball, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out four.

Erie regained its two-run lead in the seventh with a solo homer from Andrew Navigato, his fourth of the season.

Altoona capitalized on two costly errors in the eighth to tie the series 1-1. Brendan White, in his second inning of work, yielded a leadoff single to Matt Fraizer. Jared Triolo then grounded one back to White. He threw the ball away, allowing Triolo to reach and Fraizer to advance to third. Sabol lined a single to center field, but Meadows was unable to play it on a hop. The ball rolled all the way to the wall, which allowed Fraizer, Triolo, and Sabol to score and give the Curve a 5-4 lead.

J.C. Flowers (4-4) earned the win. He recorded the final out in the eighth and retired the SeaWolves in order in the ninth to seal the Altoona victory.

White (1-3) was tagged with the loss. He gave up three unearned runs in two innings of work.

Solbach tossed his first quality start of the season with Erie allowing two runs on six hits with no walks and four strikeouts in six innings.