Josue Briceño's Ninth Inning Grand Slam Sends SeaWolves to Series Win

RICHMOND, VA - The Erie SeaWolves (12-8, 52-37) worked a complete 10-5 victory to hand the Richmond Flying Squirrels (11-9, 54-34) their first series loss at home all season. An MLB rehab start for Jackson Jobe turned into an offensive show in the late innings behind home runs from Peyton Graham and Josue Briceño.

Erie starter Jackson Jobe opened the game with a scoreless first inning and a punch out of Charlie Szykowny to end it. In the second the Flying Squirrels broke through. After Jobe hit Maui Ahuna with a pitch, a groundout moved him to second, and a Jack Payton single scored Szykowny when third baseman EJ Exposito bounced a ball past first base on a throw across the diamond.

Erie's offense exploded for its first five runs in the third inning. Richmond starter Tyler Switalski looked strong early and set down the leadoff batter Viandel Pena for the first out in the inning. After that, Seth Stephenson quickly mashed a single, and Peyton Graham sent him home on a ground-rule double to put Erie on the board. It was a passed ball several batters later that allowed a second run to score. Just after that, Garrett Pennington singled home yet another run to extend the lead to 3-0. The final two tallies of the inning scored on an EJ Exposito two-RBI single. Jobe retook the mound with a 5-1 advantage in the bottom of the third.

Richmond struck the next blow after both teams were held scoreless in the fourth. Andrew Sears entered the game in the fifth and allowed Trevor Cohen to score on a wild pitch. Despite surrendering two singles, Sears escaped the inning without Richmond pushing across a second run.

Headed to the seventh with Erie still up by three, Peyton Graham crushed his fifth home run of the season out to left field to make it 6-2. In his previous at bat, Graham launched a ball out to left field and missed a home run by a matter of feet. His home run sailed nearly 40 feet over the wall to leave no question.

Richmond came ready to try and strike back out of a 59-minute rain delay. Dariel Fregio escaped the seventh inning without allowing a run, but the Flying Squirrels plated two off of the righty in the eighth to cut the Erie lead down to two.

Flying Squirrels reliever Dylan Hecht also struggled in his second inning of work. The right-hander walked the first three batters he faced in the ninth. With the bases loaded, Josue Briceño crushed a grand slam over the right field wall to give the SeaWolves a 10-4 lead. It's the first home run for Briceño since his return from injury after he hit five for Erie last season.

Eric Silva entered the game to pitch the bottom of the ninth. Silva surrendered one run to make it 10-5, but escaped with just that and earned the SeaWolves their 16th win of the second half, along with the series win against the Flying Squirrels.

Erie heads to Bowie to take on the Chesapeake Baysox beginning on Tuesday at 12:05 PM. The Baysox are second place in the Southwest division behind the SeaWolves, setting up a pivotal series between the two division rivals.

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.