Strong pitching and a pair of home runs rocketed the Richmond Flying Squirrels to a 3-1 win over the Erie SeaWolves in the regular-season finale Sunday afternoon at The Diamond.
The Flying Squirrels also finished the season with the highest total and average attendance off all 30 Double-A Minor League Baseball teams for the first time in franchise history.
The Flying Squirrels drew 406,560 fans in 2022, their highest in Double-A and the most for the team since 2015. They averaged 6,150 fans per game, which also led Double-A in 2022.
Richmond (66-71, 26-42) finished its final regular-season homestand with a series split and has won seven of the last 12 games.
The SeaWolves (80-58, 41-28) opened the scoring at 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single from Daniel Cabrera. It was the only run that starter Matt Frisbee (Win, 6-10) allowed over five innings with eight strikeouts in his final start of the regular season.
Frisbee has racked up 197 strikeouts over two seasons with the Flying Squirrels which ranks as the seventh-most career strikeouts in franchise history.
The Flying Squirrels tied the game, 1-1, in the fourth off a solo home run from Will Wilson. It was Wilson’s 12th homer of the season and his fourth over the last seven games.
In the fifth, Tristan Peters struck a double against Adam Wolf (Loss, 5-4) and advanced to third off a hit from Shane Matheny. Brett Auerbach sent a chopper to third and Peters scored on the play off a head-first slide at the plate to give Richmond a 2-1 lead.
In the seventh inning, Jacob Heyward launched a solo home run to left field, extending the Richmond lead to 3-1. Heyward now has 11 home runs this season and 33 in his career with the Flying Squirrels, which his second-most in franchise history.
Jake Dahlberg tossed a 1-2-3 sixth inning with a strikeout and Chris Wright held Erie scoreless in the seventh with a strikeout and two flyouts. Melvin Adon allowed two hits in the eighth but stranded both runners to hold the score.
Clay Helvey (Save, 2) allowed a double to start the ninth but collected a strikeout, groundout and a lineout to secure the Richmond win.
The Flying Squirrels will play the first game of the Eastern League Divisional Series on the road before coming home to The Diamond on Thursday. Game 3 will be hosted on Friday if necessary. Tickets for all potential playoff games in Richmond are on sale now at SquirrelsBaseball.com, by phone at 804-359-3866 or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
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Chris Graham
