Erie hangs in there to sweep Binghamton

ERIE, Pa.--- The SeaWolves edged the Binghamton Rumble Ponies 2-1 to complete the sweep Thursday at UPMC Park.
The game began as a battle of talented starters in Erie between the SeaWolves' A.J. Ladwig and Binghamton's P.J. Conlon. The Erie starter fanned six Rumble Ponies through the first four innings and only allowed one hit. Conlon kept the SeaWolves at bay with two strikeouts in three innings and only gave up a double to Ross Kivett.
Christin Stewart got on the scoreboard first for Erie in the bottom of the fourth inning. With one out, the left fielder rocked a line drive over the wall in right off of Conlon for his 16^th home run of the year. The solo shot gave the SeaWolves the 1-0 lead.
Erie added another run in the fifth inning on a double by A.J. Simcox that scored Zach Cox from first.
Binghamton managed to cut the lead in half in the sixth off a Kevin Kaczmarksi RBI single. It was the only run A.J. Ladwig gave up through 6.2 innings of work.
After Ladwig allowed Matt Oberste to double in the seventh, SeaWolves reliever Jairo Labourt only needed one pitch to get out of the jam. Gustavo Nunez grounded out to third, and Oberste was left stranded with the score still at 2-1.
Labourt put two runners in scoring position with one out in the eighth, and Lance Parrish brought in Bryan Garcia from the bullpen. In a stellar effort, the righty struck out the next two batters to get Erie out of the jam.
Erie failed to get any insurance in the eighth, and once again Binghamton knocked on the door to take the lead in the ninth inning. Oberste and Jio Mier both singled, but then Garcia maintained his composure to earn his first AA save. The 22-year-old reliever forced Nunez to fly out to centerfield, and then David Thompson popped out to the catcher to end the ball game.
Ladwig picked up the win to improve to 3-1, while Conlon fell to 5-5.
The SeaWolves have now won their last seven games at UPMC Park, and completed their second series sweep of 2017. At 32-31, they travel to Trenton to start a five game series with the Thunder on Friday. RHP Myles Jaye (1-5, 3.86 ERA) will start against Trenton's RHP Domingo Acevedo (2-0, 1.62 ERA) at Arm & Hammer Park at 7:00 PM.