Chiefs swept by IronPigs in Wednesday finale

Allentown, PA (July 27, 2016) - The Syracuse Chiefs dropped the series finale to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 6-4, Wednesday afternoon at Coca-Cola Park. Syracuse took the lead first for the third game in a row, but the IronPigs again battled back to sweep the series. Brian Goodwin homered and Matt den Dekker tallied two RBIs for the Chiefs in the loss. 

Syracuse (47-57) got on the board in the second inning. Den Dekker singled to start the inning against Ben Lively and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Caleb Ramsey followed with an RBI single to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead.

The Chiefs scored two more in the second. Christopher Bostick and Steve Lombardozzi each singled with one out. Two batters later, den Dekker doubled home both runs to extend the lead to 3-0.

Lehigh Valley (64-41) started its comeback in the fourth. After Austin Voth had struck out six in a perfect first three innings, Darnell Sweeney doubled to lead off the fourth. Sweeney moved to third on a groundout and scored on Nick Williams' ground ball to second. Williams reached on a throwing error on Lombardozzi and moved to second. After a fly out, Aaron Altherr singled home Williams for an unearned run, cutting the score to 3-2.

The IronPigs tied the game in the fifth. Jesmuel Valentin walked with one out and scored two batters later on Sweeney's RBI single. 

Lehigh Valley took the lead for good in the sixth. Williams doubled to start the inning and moved to third on a groundout. With two outs, Williams scored on a wild pitch to give the IronPigs a 4-3 lead. Later, Andrew Knapp walked, stole second, and scored on Cam Perkins' single to extend the lead to 5-3.

J.P. Crawford drove in a run in the seventh against Bryan Harper. Former Chief Emmanuel Burriss singled, stole second and reached third on a wild pitch. Burriss scored on Crawford's single for a 6-3 advantage. 

Syracuse got back on the board in the eighth when Goodwin led off the inning with his 10th home run of the season to cut the score to 6-4. The Chiefs did load the bases in the ninth inning, but Luis Garcia held on for his sixth save.

Syracuse heads to Buffalo to open a four-game series Thursday night at Coca-Cola Field. A.J. Cole is scheduled to start for the Chiefs against Drew Hutchison for the Bisons. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.