Senators use long ball in 6-3 win over Bowie

Bryce Harper hit his first Double-A home run and birthday boy Devin Ivany hit a three-run shot to bring the Harrisburg Senators to a 6-3 win over the Bowie Baysox Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Senators take the series from Bowie and finish their longest road trip of the season 3-6. However, they return home still in first place, 1 ½ games up on both Bowie and Richmond. Harrisburg improves to 59-46 on the season.

With the score tied at one in the seventh inning, Harper and Tim Pahuta hit back-to-back homeruns off Bowie starter Mike Ballard, the sixth time the Senators have done so this season. Ivany capped the Senators with his three-run home run in the top of the ninth giving the Senators a 6-1 lead. Harper and Pahuta each had three hits for the Sens, while Ivany had two hits of his own.

The Senators headed into the bottom of the ninth with a 6-1 lead, when the Baysox tried to rally. Bowie's Ronnie Welty hit an opposite field two-run home run, off of Rafael Martin, to bring the Baysox within three. Patrick McCoy came in with two outs to strikeout Joe Mahoney to close out the game and earn his fourth save of the season.

Jimmy Barthmaier earned the win for the Senators, pitching in relief for Sens starter Oliver Perez. Perez pitched 5.2 innings, giving up six hits, including a home run by Brandon Waring. Barthmaier finished the sixth inning before Cory VanAllen entered the game and threw a shutout inning of relief.

On Thursday, the Senators return to Metro Bank Ballpark to begin a four-game homestand against the Binghamton Mets. The Sens send RH Erik Arnesen to the mound to face B-Mets starter RH Matt Harvey at 7:00 p.m. The game can be heard on 1460am The Ticket, on the Internet through the Sens website, and on your ipad or iphone beginning at 6:50 p.m.