Erie Seawolves News Articles 2010

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Erie SeaWolves lose 10th straight to Akron Aeros at Canal Park
From staff reports
AKRON, Ohio -- The Erie SeaWolves will be glad tonight when they are done playing at Canal Park for the season. The 'Wolves dropped their 10th straight decision at Akron and third in a row overall in Saturday's 9-0 loss.


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Jon Kibler made his return to the Erie rotation and was in trouble from the start, giving up two runs in the first inning.


Kibler again was his own worst enemy in the second inning as he struggled with his command. The left-hander walked the bases loaded, and with two outs Jerad Head delivered a two-run ground-rule double. Beau Mills followed with a two-run single, pushing the Akron lead to 6-0.


Akron tacked on a solo run in the fourth inning. Kipnis doubled with one out and Chisenhall singled, putting runners in scoring position. Head followed with a sacrifice fly.


Akron added single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.


Kibler (4-6) lasted just four innings in his return, allowing seven runs on seven hits while walking six.


The SeaWolves' best scoring opportunity came in the seventh inning. Bryan Price came on in relief of Akron starter Matt Packer. Billy Nowlin greeted Price with a leadoff double and advanced to third on Brent Wyatt's single. Alden Carrithers walked to load the bases with two outs, but Price got Brandon Douglas to ground out to end the threat.


Packer (1-2) worked six shutout innings, striking out eight, while allowing six hits.


The Aeros have outscored Erie 37-4 in the past four games.


In today's 1:35 p.m. game, Erie gets a final chance to salvage a win at Canal Park. Duane Below (5-12) takes the mound looking for his sixth win of the season as he squares off against Akron starter Scott Barnes (6-9)

GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves lose 10th straight to Akron Aeros at Canal Park

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Erie SeaWolves finally get win at Canal Park
From staff reports
AKRON, Ohio -- The Erie SeaWolves ended the road portion of their schedule on a good note Sunday, breaking their 10-game losing streak at Akron and avoiding a sweep with a 7-4 victory in front of 4,324 at Canal Park.


In their last game before heading back to Jerry Uht Park for the final week of the season, Erie was able to jump ahead early with a six-run second inning.


Rawley Bishop led off the inning with a single and came home on a Billy Nowlin double. After Aeros starter Scott Barnes walked Andy Bouchie, Nowlin scored on a one-out bunt single by Matt Mansilla.


A hit-batsman loaded the bases for Brent Wyatt, who singled home Bouchie and Mansilla. Brandon Douglas finished off the rally with a two-RBI double.


Douglas' second double in the fourth inning scored the 'Wolves' final run.


Erie starter Duane Below (6-12), coming off last week's no-decision at Altoona, picked up the win after allowing the Aeros (69-65) four runs on seven hits in 51/3 innings.


Erie (60-74) hosts Richmond at 7:05 tonight to open a season-ending, eight-game homestand.


Adam Wilk, who hurled eight innings of shutout ball in his Double-A debut last week, gets the start against the Flying Squirrels' Jake Stevens (4-3, 2.38 ERA).

GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves finally get win at Canal Park

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SeaWolves open final homestand of season with victory
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
Erie SeaWolves pitcher Adam Wilk allowed a tape-measure home run, but little else in his Jerry Uht Park debut Monday.


Wilk, who pitched an eight-inning, one-hit shutout in his Double-A debut, was nearly as impressive in his second start.


A mammoth homer by Richmond's Clay Timpner was one of only two hits the left-hander allowed in Erie's 4-2 victory.


A Buck Night crowd of 5,552, the SeaWolves' second largest this summer, watched the opener of an eight-game homestand that concludes their 2010 Eastern League season. Erie (61-74), last in the league's Western Division, doubled up the next-to-last Flying Squirrels in the first of the team's four-game series.


The Detroit Tigers selected Wilk, 23, in the 11th round of the 2009 amateur draft. He was called up from Single-A Lakeland (Fla.) on Aug. 24.


The next day, Wilk blanked the division-leading Altoona Curve for eight innings of Erie's 3-1 win at Blair County Ballpark.


"It's been great to have this kind of success," Wilk said. "I think it's something I can attribute to the process I've been working on all year, which is keeping balls down and getting ahead in counts.


Those two things have really been working out well for me here."


Wilk (2-0) saw his Double-A shutout run end with one out in the top of the second inning. Timpner hit the first pitch he saw from the newcomer over the right-field screen, Holland Street and off the back roof of Uht Park's maintenance garage.


"Yeah, it's a much smaller field that Joker Marchant (Stadium) in Lakeland," Wilk said of Uht Park's cozy dimensions, "But it was a good atmosphere (Monday). It was kind of cool that there was a packed house. It was fun to pitch with some extra adrenaline."


Wilk took solace that he never trailed despite Timpner's titanic blast. That's because Erie scored twice in the bottom of the first off Jake Stevens (4-4), a converted starter for the Squirrels.


The SeaWolves' first three batters had hits off Stevens, with the last one an RBI single by Bryan Pounds. Billy Nowlin later plated Brandon Douglas with a sacrifice fly to deep left.


Douglas also was a factor during Erie's two-run rally in the fifth. The shortstop led off with a single against Richmond reliever Ronnie Ray, stole second and scored with Pounds on Deik Scram's two-out double to right-center field.


Lester Oliveros took over for Wilk in the ninth. Erie's closer got in trouble and allowed Richmond's second run, but also got out of it for his team-leading 13th save.


The SeaWolves beat the Squirrels (64-70) at home for the first time this season. Richmond swept three from Erie when the teams met at Uht Park in late June, which concluded a run that saw the SeaWolves finish 0-12 as hosts that month.


http://goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...9927/-1/SPORTS

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SeaWolves win 3rd in row
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
Billy Nowlin ended the Erie SeaWolves' 10-game home run drought Tuesday.


Make that emphatically ended it.


Nowlin hit Erie's first homers since Aug. 20 with solo blasts that opened the bottom of the second and fourth innings against Richmond. They were half of the host's run total in a 4-2 victory before 2,882 at Jerry Uht Park.


It marked the second consecutive night that the SeaWolves won by that score. Erie (62-74) has claimed three straight in its bid to surpass the Flying Squirrels (64-71) and vacate last place in the Eastern League's Western Division.


Erie also finished August with a 17-11 record, its most successful month of the 2010 season.


Nowlin hit his fourth and fifth homers off Richmond starter Craig Westcott (3-3). The first cleared the left-center-field fence, while the second nestled into the right-center-field screen.


"The first one was kind of funny because I was fooled on it," said Nowlin, who accounted for three of Erie's 10 hits. "He threw a slider, but I committed to it because I saw fastball. I just kind of threw my bat at the pitch and got it over that short left field (fence)."


Nowlin recorded Erie's first multi-homer game since Bryan Pounds pounded his first career Double-A homers in an 8-3 victory over Bowie on July 6. Pounds went deep against Reading's Mike Cisco on Aug. 20, which was the SeaWolves' last homer before Nowlin twice touched up Westcott.


"I didn't even know about that," Erie manager Phil Nevin said of the team's homer void. "But when you're playing good baseball like this, I'm not really worried about it."


Erie never trailed after Pounds drove in Alden Carrithers and Brandon Douglas with a first-inning double. Carrithers and Douglas also reached with hits off Westcott.


The Squirrels trailed 4-0 after Nowlin's solo homers. Richmond recorded its runs in the fifth thanks to Brad Boyer's two-run double but was blanked the rest of the way by Erie starter Anthony Shawler and two relievers.


Shawler (5-3) won for the first time since Aug. 5. The right-hander pitched seven innings for the third time since joining the team's starting rotation in late June.


The SeaWolves' Jay Voss pitched the ninth for his first save. The left-hander was greatly aided by Carrithers, who recorded the first out with his head-first diving catch of Clay Timpner's foul fly near, Erie's bullpen.


"(Reliever) Rob Waite was in the pen and said I had a shot," Carrithers said. "It was slicing away, but I had a good jump."


Carrithers, Erie's leadoff hitter, reached four times with a single and three walks. Pounds matched Nowlin with three hits and two RBIs.


SeaWolves center fielder Kyle Peter made his first start at Uht Park. Peter, promoted from Single-A Lakeland (Fla.) on Aug. 23, was hitless with a sacrifice bunt.

GoErie.com: Baseball: MLB - SeaWolves win 3rd in row

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Erie SeaWolves make move to escape basement
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
Jerry Uht Park's video screen wasn't working Wednesday night.

The scoreboard was, though, and the Erie SeaWolves put it to use in the late innings of their latest win over Richmond.


The SeaWolves scored three times in their last two at-bats for a 4-1 victory over the Flying Squirrels. A crowd of 2,078 watched Erie claim its fourth consecutive game and third straight of its season-ending homestand.


The SeaWolves (63-74) can tie the Squirrels (64-72) in the win column if they complete a four-game series sweep today.


Erie is trying to overtake Richmond and depart last place in the Eastern League's Western Division standings.


"We don't want to finish last," SeaWolves shortstop Brandon Douglas said. "We were (41/2) games back of Richmond when this series started. We wanted to put ourselves in a position where we could do that, and we are doing that."


Douglas was in position to break a 1-all score in the bottom of the seventh inning.


Erie's Alden Carrithers reached on a fielder's choice against Daryl Maday (9-8), a converted reliever for the Squirrels. Carrithers then stole second with Douglas at the plate.


On the play, Richmond catcher Tyler La Torre saw his throw skip by second baseman Nick Noonan and into short center. Carrithers initially didn't notice the loose ball, but still advanced to third in time.


Douglas followed with a squib grounder to the right of the pitcher's mound. Squirrels shortstop Brad Boyer tried an off-balance throw to first, but Douglas beat out the relay and allowed Carrithers to score.


"I was pretty much in defensive mode (at the plate) when I got to two strikes," Douglas said. "I figured (Maday) was going to try to throw his slider down and away because I'd chased it a couple times earlier in the at-bat. He hung the pitch, and I was surprised I got any bat on it at all.


"But I hit it ... just enough," Douglas said with a jovial pause.


The SeaWolves added insurance in the eighth when John Murrian's double down the left-field line scored Bryan Pounds and pinch-runner Kyle Peter. Murrian was the only regular catcher on Erie's roster because of Andy Bouchie's promotion to Triple-A Toledo earlier in the day.


Matt Hoffman (1-2) received the victory with 22/3 innings of hitless relief. Hoffman took over for Brayan Villarreal, who departed after six innings.


Villarreal matched his longest start since joining Erie's starting rotation in late July. The Venezuelan right-hander allowed Richmond's lone run when La Torre tied the score with a leadoff homer in top of the sixth.


The Squirrels had two more batters reach that inning, but Villarreal didn't allow the visitors to take the lead.


Erie's victory evened its Uht Park record at 33-33. The team accomplished that feat after going 0-12 there for June.

GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves make move to escape basement

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Erie SeaWolves routed at home
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
The Erie SeaWolves baseball team was shut out three times at home before Thursday's game against Richmond.

None, though, was by a football-style scores.


The Flying Squirrels accomplished that, as well as avoided being swept by the SeaWolves, with their 14-0 victory before 2,245 at Jerry Uht Park.


Richmond (65-72) emphatically salvaged the finale of the teams' four-game series.


The Virginia franchise also went back up by 21/2 games on Erie (63-75), which is trying to overtake the Squirrels and get out of last place in the Eastern League's Western Division.


"When you look at it whole, we still took three out of four from them," Erie pitching coach Ray Burris said in regard to Thursday's rout. "Enough said."


Erie's bid for a fifth straight win was put in immediate peril.


The Squirrels' Brad Boyer and Conor Gillaspie hit solo home runs in the top of the first inning off Jon Kibler (4-7), who made his first start at home for Erie since June 12.


Those homers, though, were a prelude to Richmond's binges in the fifth and sixth.


The Squirrels batted around each inning for their last 12 runs. They smacked four doubles during a five-run rally in the fifth, and had six hits during a seven-run sixth.


Richmond's Juan Ciriaco, a cousin of former SeaWolves infielder Audy Ciriaco, hit a two-run homer onto Tullio Arena's roof during the latter rally. The Squirrels' Tyler La Torre also singled twice in the sixth.


In all, seven of the Squirrels' 16 hits were for extra bases. Gillaspie led the barrage with a 4-for-5 performance, while Clay Timpner good for another three hits and three RBIs.


Erie's pitchers didn't help themselves on defense, either. Kibler committed two errors and reliever Rob Waite had another.


Kibler was called up from Single-A Lakeland (Fla.) on Aug. 26. The left-hander was the ace of Erie's staff when the season began, but was sent back to the Flying Tigers four days after his previous start at Uht Park.


Combined, Kibler's record is 8-11 for the 2010 baseball season. Thursday's four-plus innings on the mound saw his earned-run average with Erie expand to 6.44.


"Everybody goes through a bad year when you play this game long enough," Burris said of Kibler. "What Jon has to do (in the offseason) is take what we've been talking about and learn to locate (pitches) better. He's got to use both sides of the plate more and use all his pitches. Sometimes, he tends to be a two-pitch pitcher."


Richmond starter Mike MacDonald (5-8) and two relievers shut out the SeaWolves on eight hits. Brent Wyatt extended his hitting streak to seven games with two singles and a double, while Bryan Pounds doubled twice.


GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves routed at home

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Erie SeaWolves win, eliminate Akron Aeros from wild-card race
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
The Eastern League will have a new champion for its 2010 season.


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That team won't be the Erie SeaWolves, whose postseason chances were vanquished late last month.


But the SeaWolves helped make sure the Akron Aeros won't defend either, thanks to Friday's 10-5 victory before 3,272 at Jerry Uht Park. Erie (64-75) officially eliminated their Ohio rivals with a win in the opener of the teams' four-game series, which now concludes the season for both.


The Aeros (70-69) went into Friday four games behind second-place Bowie for the Western Division's wild-card playoff berth.


Had Erie not won, Bowie still would have eliminated Akron because the Baysox beat Richmond 5-3 shortly after the game at Uht Park concluded.


Was there any satisfaction that the SeaWolves directly dashed Akron's postseason hopes?


"Yeah, a little," starting pitcher Duane Below said. "We had four games left and we want to beat them here all four. Just because we're in last place, and hopefully finish next to last, we still want to finish strong."


Friday was the final appearance for Below (7-12), who pitched a full season after he underwent Tommy John surgery last year. The left-hander matched his best start of 2010 with 61/3 innings.


Below retired the Aeros' first 11 batters and allowed them one run on two hits. He walked one and struck out four for the only win of his seven at Uht Park.


"(Saturday), I'll be sore," said Below, who was on a pitch count of roughly 85 this season. "But I've felt good before my latest starts. They (the Detroit Tigers) haven't told me yet what they expect of me in the offseason, but I'm going to go work on what I did the past offseason."


Erie increased Below's odds that he'd get his first home victory.


The SeaWolves already led 2-0 before putting the game away with a seven-run outburst in the sixth inning. The runs off Akron starter Scott Barnes (6-11) and reliever Nick Hagadone were all scored with two men out.


Erie's Kyle Peter grounded a single to center that scored Billy Nowlin and Deik Scram for a 4-0 lead. Brent Wyatt followed with a three-run home run to left.


Wyatt's first career Double-A homer also extended his hitting streak to eight games.


Brandon Douglas sustained the rally with a walk and eventually scored Erie's eighth run. It was an eccentric game for the shortstop, who committed three errors but also drew four walks and scored after each of them.


The SeaWolves' Rawley Bishop drove in three runs for an overall total of 45. Bishop needs six more to surpass former first baseman Michael Bertram for the team lead.


Akron rallied for four runs off Erie relievers Ramon Garcia and Jose Ortega, but ran out of outs as they ran out of playoff contention.

GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves win, eliminate Akron Aeros from wild-card race

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Erie SeaWolves win in bottom of 10th inning
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
For a nothing game, Saturday's 10th inning at Jerry Uht Park sure was something.


None more so than for Brent Wyatt. The Erie SeaWolves' second baseman went from a proverbial goat to prominently great in mere minutes.


Wyatt capped Erie's jaw-dropping 5-4 victory over the Akron Aeros with a dramatic two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th.


His line shot over the right-field fence was the second homer of the inning for Erie, which saw Akron score twice in their half.


The Aeros' go-ahead runs were aided by Wyatt's dropped pop fly that would have been the visitors' third out.


"I don't think so," Wyatt said when asked if the homer made amends for the error among his teammates. "I don't think I've forgiven myself for that yet."


Some in the crowd of 2,306 filed out after Akron (70-70) scored twice in the 10th.


Tied at 2-all after regulation, Erie reliever Cory Hamilton (4-1) walked leadoff batter Juan Apodaca. The Aeros' catcher was sacrificed to second, and slugger Lonnie Chisenhall was intentionally walked with two outs.


The SeaWolves (65-75) thought they were out of the jam when Hamilton induced Akron cleanup hitter Miguel Perez to hit a high pop up in the outfield grass of short right. Wyatt tried to make the catch as first baseman Rawley Bishop backpedaled, but watched the ball fall out of his mitt.


Apodaca scored on that error, and Chisenhall also came around during the same sequence when Erie shortstop Brandon Douglas dropped a relay throw as Perez tried for second.


That was the prelude to what will likely be Erie's most unlikely win at home for the 2010 Eastern League season.


Akron manager Joel Skinner called for Omar Aguilar (2-7), the team's active leader with seven saves. John Murrian greeted the right-hander with his first career Double-A homer, one that reached Tullio Arena's roof and pulled Erie within a run.


The SeaWolves' Matt Mansilla followed with a bloop single to the same area in right where Wyatt committed his error. Then, on a full count, Wyatt lined an Aguilar changeup over the right-field fence.


What stunned Wyatt was that he hit the homer off the end of his bat.


"I didn't get to see a lot of pitches (from Aguilar) because I was squaring to bunt on him," said Wyatt, who extended his hitting streak to nine games. "I didn't have a great read on him, and I was a little out in front (on the last swing). I guess the ball got up in that wind."


The Aeros led 2-0 when the SeaWolves got even in the fourth. They took advantage of Akron left-hander Eric Berger, whose sudden inability to find the strike zone resulted in three walks.


Berger's third walk to Billy Nowlin forced in Brandon Jones for Erie's first run. Bishop then scored the tying run on Murrian's sacrifice fly to right.


Adam Wilk made his third and final start for the SeaWolves since an Aug. 24 promotion from Single-A Lakeland (Fla.). The left-hander lasted 72/3 innings after going a full eight in his previous two performances.


The SeaWolves' victory moved them within 10 games of .500 for the first time since June 24. They also remained 11/2 games behind Richmond (66-73) in their bid to vacate last place in the league's Western Division.


Richmond beat Bowie 4-3 on Saturday. The Baysox (75-65) remained tied with Harrisburg for the division's postseason wild-card berth because Binghamton beat the Senators 3-2.

GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves win in bottom of 10th inning

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Brown bags SeaWolves’ latest victory
ShareThe only thing that can stop the Erie SeaWolves right now is the Eastern League’s regular season.

Erie won the penultimate game on its schedule with Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Akron at Jerry Uht Park. The SeaWolves go into Monday’s 1:05 p.m. finale at 66-75 overall and 6-1 for their last homestand.

Brooks Brown and three relievers blanked the Aeros (70-71) on four hits. Brown (12-9) came off the disabled list before the game to become Erie’s first 12-game winner since Dallas Trahern (12) and Eddie Bonine (14) in 2007.

The right-hander only allowed two hits over six innings.

SeaWolves closer Lester Oliveros pitched the ninth for his team-high 14th save.

Erie scored the matinee’s lone run in the bottom of the fifth off the Aeros’ Steven Wright (2-2). Alden Carrithers reached on an infield single and later scored on Brandon Jones’ bouncing double down the right-field line.

Brandon Douglas and Carrithers combined for five of the SeaWolves’ six hits. Douglas singled three times for his 18th multi-hit game since a July 29 promotion from Single-A Lakeland (Fla.)

Erie’s Brent Wyatt was 0-for-4 and saw his hitting streak end at nine consecutive games


http://www.goerieblogs.com/sports/extrainnings/

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Erie SeaWolves' season ends with loss to Akron Aeros
By MIKE COPPER
mike.copper@timesnews.com
At least the losing streak that ended the Erie SeaWolves' season was nowhere near as long as their 0-8 start.


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The Akron Aeros soured the SeaWolves' finale with Monday afternoon's 9-2 victory at Jerry Uht Park. A Labor Day crowd of 5,041 watched Erie end 2010 with a 66-76 record in the Eastern League's Western Division.


Erie finished last for the first time since its 2006 team went 60-81 in the league's former South Division.


The SeaWolves' motivation for their last homestand, which concluded at 6-2, was to overtake Richmond and get out of the division's basement. However, the Flying Squirrels finished 21/2 games better, thanks to Monday's 4-3 victory over Bowie.


Richmond's win eliminated the Baysox from the division's wild-card chase and also clinched the berth for Harrisburg. The Senators will meet Altoona in an all-Pennsylvania semifinal, while Trenton and New Hampshire clash in the other best-of-five series.


Erie, one of the state's four teams in the league, was out of postseason contention long before Monday. Still, Phil Nevin couldn't help lament that his first season as a manager in sanctioned baseball was over.


"It's disappointing there's four other teams that get to play some more baseball in this league, and we don't," Nevin said. "But I think on the development side, we did a good job with the players that have come through here."


Erie's roster arguably underwent its most massive in-season facelift since the franchise joined the league in 1999. More than 100 player moves were made since the SeaWolves opened April 8 at Trenton.


Center fielder Alden Carrithers and first baseman Rawley Bishop were the elder statesmen of the eight position players who started Monday. Carrithers and Bishop were promoted from Single-A Lakeland (Fla.) on June 20.


Catcher John Murrian was among the last to arrive in Erie on Aug. 20. Murrian accounted for the runs in the team's finale with his fourth-inning RBI single.


However, the Aeros (71-71) salvaged their last game with a seven-run seventh. The 2009 league champions sent 11 batters to the plate against Erie starter Anthony Shawler (5-4) and two relievers.


Juan Apodaca and Lonnie Chisenhall provided the rally's biggest moments. Apodaca socked a three-run homer that chased Shawler, while Chisenhall gave Akron an 8-2 advantage with his two-run single.


Jason Kipnis capped the scoring with a solo homer in the ninth. Kipnis totaled three of Akron's 14 hits.


Jordan Henry, a brother of former SeaWolves infielder Justin Henry, was one of four Aeros with two.


Akron reliever Alex Kaminsky (1-0) pitched three innings in his Double-A debut.


Erie shortstop Brandon Douglas singled twice for his 19th multi-hit game since a July 29 call-up from Lakeland. Douglas was another Erie newcomer who helped the team go 21-13 since Aug. 1.


Nevin, who anticipates returning to Uht Park's home dugout come 2011, also expects to have the likes of Douglas on his opening day lineup card.


"I know I'll have a lot of these kids to start next season," he said, "and I'm looking forward to that."

GoErie.com: Baseball: Erie SeaWolves - Erie SeaWolves' season ends with loss to Akron Aeros