Portland, Maine- Nick Longhi hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth and the Sea Dogs (26-30) won their series opener against the Erie SeaWolves (29-29) 7-5 in front of a sellout crowd Friday night at Hadlock Field.
Portland, Maine- Nick Longhi hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth and the Sea Dogs (26-30) won their series opener against the Erie SeaWolves (29-29) 7-5 in front of a sellout crowd Friday night at Hadlock Field.
With the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Jeremy Barfield singled to left off of Waldis Joaquin (2-3). Longhi was the next batter and drilled a 3-2 pitch to left center field to give Portland the victory.
Josh Smith (3-1) earned the win with three innings of relief. Teddy Stankiewicz (ND) started for the Sea Dogs and threw his team-leading seventh quality start and struck out a season-high eight. Smith matched a career-high with five strikeouts, while the pair combined to set a season-high 13 strikeouts by Portland pitchers.
Erie took an lead with three runs on three hits in the third inning, but Portland answered in the bottom of the fourth when Josh Tobias hit a three-run homer with two outs off of AJ Ladwig (ND) to tie the game 3-3. The homer was Tobias' first as a Sea Dog.
Erie scored an unearned run on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt by Josh Smith in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead, but Portland answered on a two-run double by Rafael Devers in the bottom of the frame, aided by an error by left fielder Christin Stewart.
Erie tied things up at 5 on a solo homer by Gabriel Quintana before Longhi sent the fans home happy in the ninth.
The series continues tomorrow evening, first pitch at Hadlock Field is scheduled for 6:00 PM. LHP Trey Ball (1-5, 5.77) starts for Portland vs. RHP Myles Jaye (1-4, 3.62) of Erie. Live coverage begins on the WPEI US Cellular Sea Dogs Radio Network at 5:45 PM.
