The Flying Squirrels (16-31) recovered from an early 3-0 deficit and held on late in a 7-6 victory over Erie (18-29) at Jerry Uht Park on Friday evening. Christian Arroyo collected three hits to help extend the Squirrels winning streak to a season-high four games. Tyler Rogers hurled a scoreless ninth inning and picked up his fourth save of the season. Rogers stranded the tying run at third base to secure the back-and-forth affair.
Squirrels starting pitcher Matt Gage picked up where he left off against Erie from last Saturday by holding the SeaWolves without a hit through the first two innings. The reigning Pitcher of the Week worked around a pair of walks in the first but found trouble in the third. Harold Castro managed to reach on an infield single and advanced to third when Jeff McVaney lobbed a double. JaCoby Jones put Erie ahead 2-0 with a triple to left centerfield and Dean Green brought in Jones via a groundout for a 3-0 edge. Gage threw 33 pitches in the inning to escalate his pitch count.
Richmond returned fire with three runs in the top of the fourth against righty Cory Riordan to tie the game. Christian Arroyo reached on an infield single and Austin Slater followed with a walk. With one out, Hunter Cole then slammed a double of the wall in left field to make it a 3-1 deficit. Ryder Jones thentied the game with a ground ball that went past the second baseman (error),scoring a pair. The single by Arroyo extended his hitting streak to ten consecutive games.
Gage settled in with the game tied, 3-3, and set the side down in order in the fourth. The lefty received a no-decision but gave the Squirrels five innings and allowed the three runs on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Gage was replaced by Christian Jones in the sixth after hurling 99 pitches over the five innings Jones retired the side in the sixth and the Squirrels grabbed theirfirst lead of the game off of Riordan on the top of the seventh with four consecutive hits, all with two outs. Rando Moreno ignited the offense with a single and Christian Arroyo drilled a double to left centerfield to pull the Squirrels ahead 4-3. Austin Slater then delivered a base hit into centerfield for a 5-3 Richmond advantage.
Erie stormed right back in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of runs to tie the game at 5-5. Jones relinquished a double to Casey Frawley and was removed with two outs in favor of Jake Smith to face righty Jeff McVaney. McVaney then tied the game with a two-run homer to left field. It was his fifth home run of the season.
Smith (2-1) earned the win as the Squirrels offense picked up a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning. Myles Schroder broke the tie with an RBI triple and scored on a double play ball to take a 7-5 edge.
The Squirrels turned to Phil McCormick to pitch the eighth inning. Erie worked a two-out run against McCormick to pull to within a run, 7-6. Tyler Rogers entered in the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning to earn his fourth save of the season.
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Chris Graham
