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Erie defeats Richmond, 7-3: Flying Squirrels eliminated from Eastern League playoffs with loss

Chris Graham

richmond flying squirrels The Richmond Flying Squirrels saw their 2023 season come to an end with a 7-3 loss to the Erie SeaWolves on Thursday night at UPMC Park in Game 2 of the Southwest Division Series.

Two homers by Chris Meyers helped push Erie, the Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, past Richmond, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, to cap the two-game sweep.

The SeaWolves will face the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in the Eastern League Championship Series beginning Sunday night.

The SeaWolves opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning against Richmond starter Hayden Birdsong (Loss, 0-1). Trei Cruz led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a groundout before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jace Jung. Meyers followed with a solo homer to give the SeaWolves a 2-0 lead

The Flying Squirrels answered in the top of the fourth. Brady Whalen led off the inning with a walk and came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Carter Aldrete, closing the score to 2-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ben Malgeri led off with a homer and Cruz added an RBI single to open a 4-0 Erie lead.

Erie starter Ty Madden (Win, 1-0) held Richmond to one run until the seventh. Andy Thomas doubled and Logan Wyatt reached on a walk to chase Madden from the game. Against reliever Adam Wolf, Will Wilson hit a two-run single to close the score to 4-3.

Meyers responded with a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to extend the Erie advantage to 7-3.

SeaWolves reliever Tyler Mattison entered in the eighth and recorded the final six Flying Squirrels batters in order, including five on strikeouts.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].