The SeaWolves pieced together a major ninth-inning rally on Friday night to stun the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Erie scored three runs in the final inning, all with two outs, to win 3-1. Josh Lester delivered a key two-out single to plate the tying and go-ahead run.
Trailing 1-0 after eight innings, Erie’s comeback started with a single by Andre Lipcius. After a flyout, John Valente singled to center field to push Lipcius to third base. Valente advanced to second base on defensive indifference, and Josh Lester drove in both runs with a single to left field to give Erie the lead. After another single by Brady Policelli, Lester stole home for Erie’s third run. All three runs were surrendered by Tom Hackimer, who took the loss for Binghamton.
Offensively, Erie only managed one hit over the first eight innings. Riley Greene doubled in the sixth inning, but was stranded at second base. Binghamton got scoreless performances from Adam Oller, who tossed 4.2 innings without a hit, and later from Allan Winins and Andrew Edwards out of the bullpen.
The SeaWolves pitching staff combined for their own scoreless sets, as Joey Wentz started for Erie with four scoreless innings with just one hit allowed and six strikeouts. Brad Bass followed with three hitless innings out of the pen, and struck out four more batters. Gerson Moreno allowed the first run of the game in the eighth inning on a towering solo home run by Mark Vientos.
Moreno was the winning pitcher following Erie’s comeback, and Cale Coshow earned the save with a scoreless ninth, stranding the bases loaded when he struck out Brett Baty.
Erie and Binghamton continue their series on Saturday night at Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton. Chance Kirby will get the start for the SeaWolves, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.