SeaWolves Take Down Rumble Ponies to Secure Series Victory

ERIE, PA - The Erie SeaWolves (4-1, 40-33) used another dominant pitching performance to pick up an 8-1 win over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (1-4, 28-46) on Saturday night at UPMC Park.

Despite entering the bottom of the second scoreless for the first time this week, the Erie bats pounced on 24-year old starter RJ Gordon during his second trip to the mound to continue to produce early offense. Garrett Pennington and Andrew Jenkins picked up early singles to set up an RBI double from EJ Exposito. A sacrifice fly scored the second and gave the SeaWolves a 2-0 lead after 2.

The hits continued in the third as Erie scored a run apiece on RBI singles from Max Burt and Garrett Pennington. Binghamton turned to the bullpen with the bases loaded, but Aaron Antonini was hit by a pitch to bring in the final run and close the book on Gordon. The starter left the game with five runs allowed over 2.2 innings pitched.

Andrew Sears controlled the game in his 2026 UPMC Park debut. Despite a season-low four strikeouts, the left-hander put in a strong outing for his third consecutive start. He surrendered a fourth-inning run before he exited the game, but the bullpen shut things down from there. Dariel Fregio dazzled over the course of two innings with only one hit allowed and three strikeouts. Trevin Michael provided two more scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.31 on the season.

The Erie offense continued to add on in the late innings. Justice Bigbie led off the seventh with a solo homer, his fifth of the season. Three walks and a sac fly from Exposito were good enough to push Erie's lead to 7-1. The SeaWolves stretched a seventh insurance run on an RBI double from Chris Meyers in the eighth.

Luke Taggart earned his redemption out of the bullpen after allowing his first run in over a month on Thursday night. The righty set down the side in order in the ninth, which included two strikeouts.

Fregio earned his sixth win of the season, and Erie improved to 4-1 in the second half. The Howlers enter the final game of the week tied atop the Eastern League Southwest division.

The SeaWolves are back in action tomorrow for the series finale at 6:05 PM. Lael Lockhart gets the start after he pitched three scoreless innings on Tuesday in relief of Jack Flaherty.

Single-game tickets, suites, picnics, The Club by Synchrony events, and Bud Light Party Deck groups are now available by visiting SeaWolves.com, calling 814-456-1300, or visiting the UPMC Park Box Office in person.