The Harrisburg Senators are leaving Erie with a chance to do real damage in the series, and Friday night’s 8-3 win at UPMC Park made sure of that.
With the victory in Game 4 on July 10, 2026, Harrisburg locked up at least a split and pushed its advantage to 3-0 in the six-game set. The Senators, now 9-4 and 43-39 overall, sit one game behind the first-place SeaWolves, who are 11-3 and 47-35, with two games in hand. Harrisburg also kept building on its road success, improving to 25-17 away from home, the best mark in the Eastern League.
The night began with an opener on the mound for Harrisburg in Jared Simpson, who had already helped the club escape a jam in Thursday’s game by getting two outs in two-thirds of an inning. Simpson was expected to cover about an inning before turning things over to either Kyle Luckham or Connor Van Scoyoc.
Erie countered with left-hander Jake Miller, making his first SeaWolves appearance of the season after being called up from A+ West Michigan. Miller, the No. 14 prospect in the Detroit Tigers organization, was appearing for Erie for the sixth time since 2024. In A+ this season, he logged 12 2/3 innings, allowed two runs on eight hits, walked four and struck out 12.
Harrisburg’s offense wasted little time taking over. Branden Boissiere, back with the Senators for his first series since a rehab assignment, drove in Devin Ortiz in the top of the third to get the scoring started. One inning later, Ethan Petry launched his fifth home run in AA, a line-drive shot to right field, and Kervin Pichardo followed with a single before Ortiz unloaded a blast to left to make it 4-1.
The Senators kept stacking good at-bats in the sixth. Johnathan Thomas ripped a triple into the right-center gap to bring home TJ White from first, then scored on a wild pitch.
Pichardo, who had homered Wednesday, sent another one to almost the exact same spot to extend the lead to 7-1. Thomas finished the night’s scoring with an RBI single that plated Ortiz.
Erie got a couple back in the bottom of the eighth when Justice Bigbie and Andrew Jenkins pushed across two runs, but that was as close as the SeaWolves would get. Sandy Gaston gave up a leadoff single, then struck out three of the next four hitters to shut the door.
Riley Maddox earned the win for Harrisburg after a strong start in Game 3. Erie struck first in the bottom of the second, with Andrew Jenkins and EJ Exposito trading RBI doubles separated by a sharp line out, but Maddox settled in and retired 17 of the next 20 batters he faced.
He finished with one run allowed on four hits over 89 pitches, walking one and striking out two. It was his first win in AA, and his ERA dropped to 4.50 from 9.00 after his first appearance last weekend.
Andrew Sears started for Erie and lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The SeaWolves bullpen gave up four more runs on six hits the rest of the way. Sandy Gaston and Simpson combined for 1 2/3 solid innings in relief of Maddox, allowing one hit, two walks and four strikeouts.
The Senators now turn to Game 5 on Saturday, July 11, at 6:05 from UPMC Park. Harrisburg will send right-hander Josh Randall to the mound for his first start of the series.
Randall is 3-2 on the year and last faced Erie in mid-June at FNB Field, when he picked up the win. He’ll be looking to bounce back after a rough outing last Sunday against Richmond.
Erie will counter with right-hander Hayden Minton, who is making just his third appearance with the SeaWolves and will face Harrisburg for the first time.
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