RICHMOND, Va. – Led by a two-homer, six-RBI performance from Charlie Szykowny, the Richmond Flying Squirrels beat the Harrisburg Senators, 11-10, on Thursday night at CarMax Park.
The Flying Squirrels (39-20) extended their Southwest Division lead to 8.5 games over the Senators (31-29), Erie SeaWolves and Akron RubberDucks with nine games remaining in the Eastern League’s first half. Richmond’s magic number is one.
Szykowny opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first against Harrisburg starter Josh Randall (Loss, 2-1).
Kervin Pichardo hit an RBI single in the top of the second and Maxwell Romero Jr. brought in a run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth with a sacrifice fly to cut the score to 3-2.
Jean Carlos Sio hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, his second in his last two games, for a 4-2 Richmond lead.
The Flying Squirrels scored seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to open an 11-2 lead, beginning with the second three-run homer of the game by Szykowny.
Sio hit an RBI triple and scored on a single by Ty Hanchey. Parks Harber followed with an RBI single to open a nine-run Richmond lead.
Harrisburg scored eight runs in the top of the eighth to close the score to 11-10, including a two-run homer by Devin Fitz-Gerald and a grand slam by Caleb Lomavita.
Tyler Vogel (Save, 8) recorded the final two outs of the eighth before throwing a scoreless ninth to end the game.
Charlie McDaniel (Win, 1-0) made his second Double-A start and allowed two runs over six innings with five strikeouts.
The series continues on Friday night. Right-hander Trystan Vrieling (1-1, 5.00) will start for Richmond opposed by Harrisburg right-hander Isaac Lyon (0-2, 8.74). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Friday is Pride Night at CarMax Park. Tickets are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Tickets, by phone at 804-359-FUNN (3866) or in person at the CarMax Park ticket office.