CURVE, Pa.– Altoona earns the victory in the series against the Erie SeaWolves, taking four of the six games against Erie in the second series of a two-week homestand. The Curve defeated the SeaWolves 8-6 at Peoples’ Natural Gas Field for their second straight victory.
Curve starter Matt Ager turned in another solid outing for Altoona, beginning the day with four innings of two-run ball on the mound. Ager struck out four and walked just one batter on 53 pitches, he holds a 2.08 ERA in three outings for the Curve. Noah Murdock followed with a pair of scoreless frames, he’s been unscored upon in five straight outings now, covering 8.1 innings.
Erie mounted a rally with two runs in the fourth, two in the seventh and two more runs in the eighth inning. Cy Nielson came on in relief in the seventh, allowing two runs to score with two strikeouts in the frame. He would return in the eighth and allow two more runs without recording an out. Alessandro Ercolani would stop the SeaWolves' comeback there, going 1.2 innings but would allow two singles in the ninth to bring the go-ahead runner up to the plate. The Curve would turn to Jake Shirk for the final out, eliciting a flyout in just three pitches to earn his first save of the season.
Altoona matched a season-high with six runs scored in an inning when they sent ten hitters to the plate in the third inning. Duce Gourson brought the first run home in the inning with a double down the right field line and after RBI singles from Callan Moss and Omar Alfonzo, Will Taylor slammed a three-run double to the wall in right field to make it a 6-0 Curve lead.
The Curve added a pair of key insurance runs late in the game. Moss’ second hit of the game drove home Gourson in the seventh inning and Derek Berg added a run-scoring single in the eighth inning.
Altoona will begin a two-week road trip against the Hartford Yard Goats on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. The Curve will send RHP Khristian Curtis to the mound, Hartford’s starter is to be announced.
For tickets and more information on the Altoona Curve, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the PNG Field box office. Additionally, the Stockyard Team Store is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., during every home game and online 24/7/365.