Make it five: Richmond Flying Squirrels extend winning streak

Right fielder Hunter Cole powered the Squirrels to their fifth straight win with four hits in 4-3 win over Erie on Thursday night at Jerry Uht Park. Cole fell a home run shy of the cycle to back a solid outing from starting pitcher Matt Gage in the series opener. Richmond (52-45) pounded out 14 hits and improved to 4-3 against the SeaWolves (37-60) on the season. Squirrels LHP Adalberto Mejia will start game two of the series on Friday.

Squirrels third baseman Juan Ciriaco snapped a 2-2 tie in the seventh with an RBI single. Austin Slater knocked a base hit to centerfield to open the frame. Myles Schroder also connected on a single and Ciriaco cracked a bounding ball back through the middle to plate Slater for the go-ahead run.

Cole then led off the eighth inning with a booming triple off the top of the right field wall. Mitch Delfino knocked in Cole with base hit to right for a 4-2 lead.

Erie pulled to within one, 4-3, in the bottom of the eighth with an unearned run off reliever Baulio Lara. Lara finished the eighth inning and gave the ball to Derek Law for the ninth. Law worked a scoreless frame to earn his fourth save of the season. Stephen Johnson worked a scoreless seventh to earn his 12^th hold of the year.

Starting pitcher Matt Gage (2-0) was sturdy once more in just his second start above the Low-A level. The lefty tossed six innings and allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts. He hurled 95 pitches and walked just one in the victory.

The Squirrels jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Erie starter Chad Green. Engel Beltre extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a double to open the contest. He moved to third base on Rando Moreno’s league-leading 17^thsacrifice bunt and scored on a double to right from Hunter Cole.

The SeaWolves grabbed a 2-1 lead off Gage in the fourth inning. With two runners in scoring position Tony Thomas singled to center to tie the game, 1-1. Miguel Gonzalez then chopped a ball over second allowing Dominic Ficociello to score. Richmond tied the game, 2-2 in the 6^th inning in familiar fashion: a Beltre base hit, Moreno sacrifice bunt and Cole RBI hit.

Chad Greene was tagged with his league-leading 14^th loss of the season. Green allowed 10 hits and three runs through six and a third innings. He struck out four and walked none.

The Squirrels continue the road trip in Erie on Friday against the SeaWolves. Richmond LHP Adalberto Mejia (4-2-0, 2.82) will start for the Squirrels against Erie LHP Josh Turley (9-6, 3.34). First pitch is set for 7:05PM with the Flying Squirrels Pregame Warmup starting at 6:35PM on Fox Sports 910 and FoxSportsRichmond.com.