HARRISBURG, PA - The Erie SeaWolves' (35-32) pitching staff notched its fourth shutout of the season in an 8-0 win against the Harrisburg Senators (34-34) on Saturday night at FNB Field.
SeaWolves starter Kenny Serwa turned in his third straight strong start on the mound. The knuckleballer finished his evening with 4.2 scoreless innings, and while the Illinois native walked three, he struck out four batters and only allowed two runners into scoring position all night.
Offensively, Erie continued its theme of fast starts against the Senators. Seth Stephenson bunted for a single to leadoff the game and the speed from the top of the order continued to put pressure on the Harrisburg defense, helping force a first-inning error for the second straight night. Justice Bigbie laced a two-run double to highlight a three-run first from the SeaWolves.
After going quietly in the second, a leadoff single from Chris Meyers and a pair of walks quickly loaded the bases again for the SeaWolves. Andrew Jenkins brought in the fourth run of the night for the SeaWolves with his second RBI groundout of the night.
Izaac Pacheco launched his 11th home run of the season in the seventh inning off of Senators' reliever Aaron Shortridge to extend the lead before the SeaWolves broke the game wide open with a three-run eighth inning.
Harrisburg's offense was kept quiet by Serwa before the right-hander turned the game over to the bullpen. Tanner Kohlhepp finished off the fifth inning and tossed another scoreless inning in the sixth. Johan Simon struck out a pair in his two scoreless innings and Yoniel Curet completed the shutout by working around a leadoff walk in the ninth.
Andrew Sears makes his second start of the week after returning from the injured list on Tuesday in tomorrow's series finale. Jared Simpson is set to go for Harrisburg with first pitch set for 1 PM.
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.