In front of a franchise record 9,810 fans at The Diamond, C.J. Hinojosa lined a walk-off base hit to right field as Richmond (34-49) defeated Erie (40-43), 4-3 on Independence Day. The Squirrels rallied back from a 3-1 deficit, scoring two runs in the eighth and the wining run in the bottom of the ninth. Squirrels starting pitcher Dan Slania worked seven solid innings in the no-decision and the bullpen duo of Jarret Martin and Tyler Cyr kept the game close. Cyr (3-1) earned the win with a scoreless ninth inning. The Squirrels snapped their five game losing streak and will seek to win the series on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m.
Daniel Carbonell scored the winning run for Richmond on Hinojosa’s base hit off Erie reliever Adam Ravenelle. Carbonell walked to begin the inning and advanced to second on a bunt base hit from Jeff Arnold. After Slade Heathcott popped up his bunt attempt, Hinojosa ripped a line drive passed the outstretched glove of second baseman Zack Cox to win the contest.
Trailing 3-1 entering the eighth inning, the Squirrels tied up the game with a pair of runs off of lefty Jairo Labourt. Hinojosa and Gomez singled to begin the inning and advanced on a wild pitch. Erie catcher Time Remes then failed to corral an outside pitch, scoring Hinojosa from third base. Two batters later, K.C. Hobson smashed a double off the base of the wall to tie the game, 3-3.
Dan Slania made the start for Richmond in his first appearance since making his MLB debut on Friday in Pittsburgh. Slania worked around a pair of base hits in the first inning by striking out Dominic Ficociello to end the frame. Slania turned it on in the second and retired eight consecutive batters until an error allowed Zack cox to reach in the fourth. Erie loaded the bases in the inning, but Slania induced a fly ball to left field to end the threat.
Starting pitcher Beau Burrows was equally as impressive for Erie. Burrows put his blazing fastball on display in front of the capacity crowd at The Diamond. He fanned Slade Heathcott to begin the first inning and Myles Schroder to start the second. The prospect righty did not allow a hit over the first five innings in his longest Double-A outing to date. Richmond placed a pair of runners in scoring position in the fourth due to two walks, but Burrows punched out K.C. Hobson to strand them aboard.
Erie snapped the scoreless affair with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning. Ficociello singled to right field and Christin Stewart worked a walk with one out. After Steven Moya popped up, Gabriel Quintana drilled a double off the left field wall for a 2-0 advantage. Slania finished the inning, using 92 pitches over the first six frames.
Richmond eventually picked up theirvfirst hit of the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Miguel Gomez lashed a double to left field, the only hit allowed by Burrows. Erie left Burrows in to face one more batter after the double and he fanned Myles Schroder to end his outing. Reliever Sean Donatello replaced Burrows and yielded a double to Brandon Bednar, scoring Gomez to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Burrows allowed the one run on one hit in the no-decision. He walked four and struck out five on 96 pitches in the effort.
After Richmond scored in the sixth, Erie quickly responded with run in the top of the seventh. Tim Remes doubled and scored on a sacrifice bunt to their. Harold Castro dropped a bunt to third and Myles Schroder overthrew the base at first, allowing Remes to score for a 3-1 Erie lead.
Jarret Martin worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Tyler Cyr picked up the win by tossing the ninth.